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AN ESSAY 



ON 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 



MULTA RENASCENTUR QVM JAM CECIDERE. 



AN ESSAY 



ON THE 



ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND DECLINE 

OF 

RHYMING LATIN VERSE ; 

WITH MANY SPECIMENS. 

BY 

SIR ALEXANDER CROKE, D.C.L. and F.A.S. 



OXFORD, 

PRINTED BY D. A. TALBOYS. 

M.DCCC. XXVIII. 



C1 



<fi° 



PRINTED BY D. A. TALBOYS, OXFORD. 






CONTENTS. 

1 HE theory of rhyme, p. 1, the history of rhyme, p. 4. Its pre- 
valence in the east, in the Hebrew, the Sanscrit, the Chi- 
nese, the old Persian, the Arabic, the modern Persian, the 
Turkish, and other oriental nations, ibid. 

In the west, p. 7. 

Amongst the Celtic nations, the British, the Irish, the Scotch, 
and other less celebrated tribes. - 

In the Gothic dialects, the Scandinavian, the Teutonic, and the 
Anglo-Saxon, Runes, the Edda, Otfrid, CaBdmon. A specimen 
of rhyming and alliterative Saxon. Modern European lan- 
guages, p. 9. 

Used by the Greeks, Homer, Sophocles, etc, p. 14. 

By the Romans, Ennius, Ovid, Horace, etc, p. 16. 

Proper rhyming Latin verse, the production of the middle ages. 
Its origin and nature, p. 17. Why called Leonine, p. 18. 
Eberhardus wrote on this mode of versification, p. 19. Dif- 
ferent kinds of metre used, p. 20. 

Specimens of above fifty rhyming, or Leonine, poets, in every 
century from the second, p. 26. 

In the third century, Commodianus, ibid. 

In the fourth, p. 28. Hilary, Damasus, Ambrose, Augustine. 

In the fifth, p. 34. St. Patrick, Verecundus, p. 36. Theodulus. 

In the sixth, p. 43. Belisarius, Fortunatus, Gregory the great. 

In the seventh, p. 46. Hymn in the Bangor Antiphonarium* 
Verses on Clothaire. Columbanus, Eugenius. 



V1 CONTENTS. 

In the eighth, p. 49. Moses Mutius, Aldhelm, St. Boniface, Bede. 

In the ninth, p. 53. Hartman. 

In the tenth, p. 55. Epitaph on Hollo, a Watch-song, verses in 
honour of Athelstan. 

In the eleventh, p. 57. Bernhard, Liber Floreti, 60. Epi- 
taph on Beatrix, 61. Anselm, Willeramus, Epitaph on 
William the conqueror, 62. Raginald's* life of St. Mal- 
chus, 63. On Sapphic Metre, 76. On Fagia, 77. The 
Schola Salernitana, 82. 

In the twelfth, p. 83. Hildebert, Wippo, 85. Leoninus, 86. 
Henry of Huntingdon, 88. Monachus Florentinus on the 
recovery of Acre, 89. St. George, 92. Walter de Mapes, 93. 
His vision, 95. Drinking song, 100. Another Drinking 
song, 102. Contest between the Eye and the Heart, 103. 
Peter Cluniacensis, 106. Two hymns to the Virgin, 107. 
Geoffrey do Vinesauf, 110. 

In the thirteenth, p. 111. Alexander de Villa Dei. Alanus, 112. 
Michael Blaunpain, 114. Epigram on Edward the first, 
and the pope, 115. 

In the fourteenth, p. 115. John Bridlington, Epigram on Ed- 
ward the third, 118. Another, 119. Another on Henry 
the third, on the corrupt state of the church, ibid. Walter 
Disse, 121. 

In the fifteenth, sixteenth, etc. Luther, p. 122. Clemens a 
Lybeo Monte, 123. Erasmus, 124. 

Rhyming Latin verse neglected, except in hymns and ludicrous 
compositions, p. 126. Hymns on the Sacrament, to the Virgin 
Mary, for Easter, for Pentecost, for the Dead. Complaint to 
the Virgin Mary. — The ludicrous style, 139. Macaronic 
poets, Hall Stephenson, Glover, etc. — Conclusion. 



AN ESSAY 

ON 

THE HISTORY 

OF 

RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 



THE peculiar beauties of poetry are addressed to 
the ear, as well as to the mind ; they comprehend 
both sound and sense. Though sublime sentiments,, 
picturesque descriptions, strong and metaphorical 
language, may indeed be the more important fea- 
tures, they are not sufficient to constitute a poem, 
without the harmony of numbers. Rhyme, likewise 
an ornament derived from sound only, has been in- 
troduced into the poetry of various countries. A 
practice which has delighted so many polished as 
well as simple nations, can scarcely be considered as 
childish or barbarous, and must be referable to some 
general principles of gratification. The recurrence of 
similar sounds at stated periods is pleasing to the 
ear. In music, the return to the key note at mea- 
sured intervals is one of the principal sources of an 

B 



A ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

agreeable melody ; and no compositions are more 
generally pleasing, than when there is a repetition 
of the same passages,, either in the same identical 
form., or varied according to the rules of art. In 
some kinds of poetry, the ballad for instance, the 
regular return of the same words, in the shape of a 
refrain, burden, or chorus, is always popular, and 
generally pleasing — 

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. 

Sounds which we have heard before seem to be old 
acquaintances : we feel at home and at ease with 
them; and whatever attractions there may be in 
novelty, there is certainly a charm in seeing or hear- 
ing what we have been accustomed to see or hear. 
From some such principles may be explained the 
origin and the effect of rhyme, which is the return, 
with some variations, of the same sound, and is per- 
haps the most universal of all the peculiarities of 
poetry. 

Upon the first introduction of rhyme amongst un- 
polished nations, accustomed only to the rudest 
poetry, they would be easily satisfied with the most 
imperfect and casual coincidences of sound. In the 
earliest specimens we accordingly find rhyme in the 
most irregular forms : in some cases scarcely percep- 
tible, in others the endless repetition of the same 



RHYMING LATIN VERBE. 



individual sounds. Neither was it confined to the 
end,, or the pauses of the lines. The return of the 
same syllable,, or even the same letter, in various 
parts of the verse, produced the species of rhyme 
called alliteration, In the progress of improvement 
the public taste grew more correct and fastidious. 
The more complex, or less perfect forms, subsided 
into simple rhyme. In that it became necessary 
that the beginnings of rhyming syllables should be 
different, whilst the sound at the close should be the 
same. An additional pleasure was produced by this 
union of similarity with dissimilarity. We are gra- 
tified by the perception of two things which agree 
in some respects, yet differ in others. To perceive 
the discrimination is an act of the judgement, and 
every exercise of the powers of the mind is a source 
of pleasure. 

In this its most perfect state, rhyme has become 
the greatest external characteristic of poetry in all 
the most refined nations of modern Europe. At- 
tempts indeed have been made, first, I believe, by 
the Italians, and afterwards by some of the greatest 
English poets, to discard rhyme altogether. That 
it is a great impediment to the poet there can be no 
doubt, and that it may be dispensed with is demon- 
strated by the noble works of Milton, Thomson, and 
Young. Perhaps it is of too trifling a nature to 

b2 



4 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

harmonize with the feelings in sublime subjects, and 
in the grand style of poetry. But in the less ele- 
vated compositions it is undoubtedly pleasing. It 
is of use in distinguishing between prose and verse, 
in marking the termination of the lines, and in as- 
sisting the memory. It adds point and ridicule to 
subjects of gaiety, wit, and humour; beauty and 
tenderness to sonnets of love ; and it gives grace and 
value to elegant trifles. In hymns and other pieces, 
both sacred and profane, which are set to music, it 
is almost indispensable. To didactic poems, like 
that which occasions the present inquiry, it is pecu- 
liarly applicable K Their subjects are not naturally 
poetical, and they require every embellishment to 
raise them above prose. Rhyme gives life and spi- 
rit to the precepts, and impresses them on the 
memory. It contributes to that proverbial concise- 
ness in which instruction is best communicated, and 
the couplet is the most appropriate form in which it 
can be conveyed. 

Rhyme then being so natural and pleasing an 
adjunct to verse, it is not extraordinary that it 
should be found to have been in use, more or less, 
amongst almost all the nations in the world. 

It prevailed in the East from the remotest anti- 
1 This essay was originally intended as part of an introduction 
to the Schola Salerni. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 5 

quity. It sometimes occurs in the poetical books of 
the Old Testament. In a simple language,, where 
the inflexions were few,, they would often return, 
and constitute rhymes ; but whether this was owing 
to chance or design,, is a question which has been 
disputed by learned men, but is immaterial to the 
present inquiry,, since the fact itself is indisputable 1 . 
It was afterwards employed by the rabbinical poets 
in all its various modes 2 . 

The poetry of that extraordinary language, the 
Sanscrit, besides the harmony of regular feet, similar 
to those of the Greeks, was usually embellished by 
rhymes, in couplets and other forms 3 . And they 
are found likewise in the languages of the nations 
bordering upon India, which are of the Sanscrit 
family 4 . 

1 Rhythmus curatus non aliter fuit, quam qui sua sponte 
prodiret — quod non raro etiam Davidi imprimis accidisse ani- 
madvertimus. Buxtorf. Thes. Gram. p. 629. Quod ad eorum at- 
tinet sententiam, qui Hebraici carminis artijicium in 6fioiore\sv- 
roig unice ponunt — earn, quanquam multos habuerit fautores, 
et eruditos propugnatores, — multo tamen esse arbitror omnium 
vanissimam. Lowth, Met. Har. Confutatio. Jones, Poes. Asiat. 
Com. p. 72. 2 Buxtorf, As Aben Ezra, Kimhi, etc. 

3 Colebroke's masterly Dissertation on Sanscrit Poetry. Asi- 
atic Researches, vol. x. 

4 Dr. Leyden on the Indo-Chinese Languages. Ibid, 
vol. xi. 



6 . ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

It appears in the oldest Chinese poetry. The 
Shee is an ancient collection of above three hundred 
odes, of various dates, the earliest written one thou- 
sand three hundred years before Christ, and the 
others during the following period of seven hundred 
years. The greater part of them is in rhyming 
stanzas : the modern Chinese verses abound in rhyme 
to a degree of nausea 5 . 

In a specimen of the Zend, or old Persian, given 
by sir William Jones, every sentence rhymes 6 . It 
was in use amongst the Arabians from the earliest 
times. Schultens has printed a poem written by 
Amrou, the last of the race of Jorham, princes of 
Mecca near the time of Solomon, lamenting their 
expulsion from that kingdom. He has published 
another poem written seven hundred years before 
Mohammed, and others very ancient, mostly in 
rhyme 7 . The Moallakat, or poems suspended in 
the temple at Mecca, have the same addition; and 
one identical rhyme is sometimes continued through 
the whole poem. The subsequent Arabic poetry,, 
the modern Persian, the Turkish, Tartarian, and 
perhaps all the other oriental languages, have fol- 



5 Marshman's Chinese Grammar, Serimpore, 1814. 

6 Asiat. Res. vol. i. p. 45. 

7 Schultens, Monumenta Vetustioris Arabia?, Leip. 1740. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 7 

lowed these examples 8 . And the works of the 
many fine native poets of Russia prove that it is 
equally known in the Sclavonic dialects 9 . 

The principal Western nations may be divided 
into two branches, the Celtic and the Gothic. The 
first comprehends the Irish,, the Welsh, the Gaelic, 
and some other less extensive dialects. The latter, 
the Scandinavian, the Teutonic, and the Anglo- 
Saxon. 

Rhyme was common to all the Celts. The Irish 
seems to be the purest of these dialects. A sort of 
learning prevailed early in that island. The lan- 
guage was cultivated, refined, and committed to 
writing before either the Welsh or the Erse. .Hence 
their compositions are more ancient, and less bar- 
barous than the others. As a proof of their attach- 
ment to poetry, Saint Patrick is said to have de- 
stroyed three hundred volumes of their bards 10 . 
Rhyme is found in the earliest specimens. O'Hal- 
loran has quoted a poem of the fourth century. 
There is a hymn in honor of Saint Patrick, written 



8 See Jones, Poeseos Asiat. Comm. Asiatic Researches, 
etc. etc. 

9 Vaters, Russiches Leyrbuch. Leips. 1815. Bo wring's 
Russian Anthology. 

10 Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, dissert. I. p. xlviii. 



8 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

in the sixth century by an Irish bishop, in quatrains, 
of which the second and fourth lines, and sometimes 
the first and third, rhyme together ; and there are 
others of great antiquity 11 . About the middle of 
the ninth century, alliteration was introduced, and 
much used by the Irish poets 12 . 

In the British language it seems to be coeval with 
poetry itself, and is applied in a great variety of 
modes. An oracle respecting the fatal stone, which 
was said to have been originally in Ireland, was re- 
moved to Scotland, and is now in Westminster abbey, 
consists of four lines, of which the two first and the 
two last rhyme to each other, and are supposed to be 
of druidical origin 13 . Some of the celebrated triads 
upon the tombs of the warriors are thought to be of 
the third century, and show the practice to have 
been then fully established. Taliessin and Aneurin, 
who flourished in the fifth and sixth centuries, are 
both rhyming poets 14 . Alliteration was seldom in- 

11 Hymnus, seu Prima Vita Sancti Patricii Hibernias Apos- 
toli, S. Fieco, Episcopo Sleptensi, authore. 

12 See Vallancey's Grammar of the Iberno-Celtic, 1773^ 
O'Molloy, Walker, etc. 

13 Borlase's Cornwall, vol. i. p. 175. 

14 Joh. David. Rhaesi, (Rhys,) Cambro-Britarmicae Institu- 
tiones, London, 1592. Johns's Bardic Museum, 2 vols. Lon- 
don, 1794. 1802. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. U 

troduced by the earlier bards, but it gradually be- 
came more common, and at length was carried to 
great excess. In the fourteenth century the appli- 
cation of rhyme was inordinately multiplied. In one 
poem, forty-six lines have all one terminal rhyme, 
and there are no less than seventy in a distich of 
only twelve words 15 . 

In the Gaelic or Erse dialect it does not occur so 
early. In the most ancient poems which I have met 
with, it is found only occasionally, as in Steward's 
Collection of the Highland Bards. 

The Gothic dialects afford specimens of poetry in 
its first rude origin and gradual improvement. Their 
metre at first was not composed of regular feet, but 
of a certain length and irregular cadence of the lines. 
Poetry was probably suggested from singing to a 
musical instrument. Any lines which could be made 
to correspond to the time, rough and inharmonious 
perhaps in itself, would be adapted to that object. 
If a line was a little too long or too short, if the ca- 
dence did not quite suit the music, the performer 
remedied the imperfection by his mode of singing. 
In short, it was measured prose, which at length was 
perfected into a more regular metre, and other orna- 
ments were farther added. 

15 Conybeare's Illustration of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, p. Ixiii, 



10 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Amongst the kindred Gothic tribes, an uniformity 
of versification prevailed, in the Scandinavian, the 
Teutonic, and the Anglo-Saxon dialects, since they 
all proceeded originally from the same source. As 
rhyme was the early peculiarity of Celtic poetry, and 
alliteration a subsequent ornament ; on the contrary, 
alliteration was the most ancient characteristic of 
Gothic poetry, and rhyme was introduced in later 
times. According to the received traditions, with 
their mythology their poetry was transplanted into 
Scandinavia, by the celebrated Odin, from eastern 
regions. In that country it was cultivated with the 
greatest enthusiasm ; the bards or scalds, the polish- 
ers of language, were held to be inspired with a di- 
vine spirit, and great magical powers were attributed 
to their lofty verse, the mysterious Runes — 

Carmina vel coelo possunt deducere lunam. 

In their construction, in the earliest times, the metres 
and the alliterations were very plain and simple. 
But fancied improvements began to be introduced 
before the ninth century; and by the eleventh, from 
gradual refinements, their poems were composed with 
infinite art and labour; rhyme was introduced, and, 
with alliteration, was varied and involved at last in 
interminable intricacy. No less than three hundred 
different forms of verse have been enumerated, in 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 11 

which there was an endless repetition of the same 
sounds, disposed and interlaced according to fixed 
rules 16 . The sublime poetry of the Edda was only- 
committed to writing by Ssemund, as late as the 
year 1057;, hut it was composed from ancient tra- 
ditions, and much of it was of an indefinite antiquity, 
and existed before the ninth century. Rhyme is 
only to be met with in it occasionally 17 . In the ode 
called his Ransom, written by Egill, an Islandic 
scald, in the time of king Athelstan, who reigned 
early in the tenth century, the rhymes are continued 
and very accurate 18 . Olaus Wormius has given only 
one specimen of rhymed verse, from a poem on the 
names and powers of the Runic letters, of which he 
has neither mentioned the age, or translated it ; and 
which would not, therefore, be very interesting to 
the reader 19 . 

With respect to the Teutonic nations, the oldest 
poem in rhyme, of which the date is clearly ascer- 
tained, is the evangelical history, written by Otfrid, 

16 Olaus Wormius. Litteratura Runica. 

17 Edda Saemundi, Hanias, 1787, 2 vols, in 4to. 

18 Hickes's Thesaurus. Bishop Percy's five pieces of Runic 
poetry. 

19 Snorro Sturleson, who published another Edda, a century 
later than Saimund, wrote a book entitled Hattalykli, the Key of 
Metre, which has been published by Johnstone. 



12 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

a monk of Weissenburg in Germany, in the Franco- 
Theotisc, or ancient German language, before the 
year 876, and which occupies three hundred and 
eighty folio pages in Schilter's Thesaurus. It is 
without any alliteration. There is another poem in 
rhyme written in 883 in the same dialect, addressed 
to Louis the third, king of the Franks. The sub- 
sequent poems in the Teutonic dialects are all in 
rhyme. 

The Saxons were taught the art of poetry from 
their Scandinavian ancestors, and from the subse- 
quent visits of the Danes, who were of the same 
origin. It has been observed by an eminent Saxon 
scholar, that " Rhyme is of no common occurrence 
in the Anglo-Saxon poetry, but that both rhyme 
and alliteration are sometimes to be found." Poetry 
amongst them underwent the same process as with 
the other Gothic nations. In the pure and early 
state of their language, as in the fragments of the 
ancient Csedmon, who died in 680, and which are 
quoted in king Alfred's life of Bede, and in that 
prince's own poetry, no rhyme is to be found. When 
first introduced, perhaps after the Danish invasion, 
it was used only partially. Alliteration was princi- 
pally attended to, and sometimes they were both 
intermixed, and so they continued to be used till 
very late periods in the English language. I shall 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 13 

conclude this short account of the poetry of our an- 
cestors,, with the following part of a description of 
the happy island inhabited by the pbcenix, in which 
rhyme and alliteration both occur, and which differs 
so little from the present language, that it may not 
be uninteresting to readers unacquainted with the 
Saxon 20 . 

Ne forstes fraest, Not winter's frost, 

Ne fyres blaest, Not fire's blast, 

Ne haggles hryre, Not hail's fall, 

Ne hrimes dryre, Not rimes dryness, 

Ne sunnan haetu, Not sun's heat, 

Ne sin caldu, Not hurtful cold, 

Ne warm weder, Not warm w r eather, 

Ne winter scur, Not winter shower 21 . 

Since then rhyme was common to all the aboriginal 
nations of Europe, it is no longer a mystery from 
whence the universal modern practice of it was de- 
rived. The theories of some ingenious philologists 
who have referred the invention and introduction 
of it solely to any one source, or any one particular 



20 See Hickes's Thesaurus, part i. p. 222, etc. Sharon Turner, 
Archaeol. vol. xiv. p. 173. Turner's Hist. Anglo-Sax. War- 
ton's Hist, of Eng. Poetry, vol. i. Conybeare's Illustrations of 
Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Grammar, etc. 

21 Bosworth, p. 229. 



14 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

race,, are evidently unfounded. With respect to one 
of those suppositions, which derives it from the Ara- 
bians, it may not be unimportant to observe a singular 
circumstance in contradiction to it, that the earliest 
redondillas or romances of the Spaniards, who had 
most connexion with that ingenious people, are with- 
out rhyme, except such as arises incidentally from the 
many words in the language which have similar ter- 
minations 22 . 

Rhyme was enumerated by the Greek and Roman 
rhetoricians amongst the figures of elegant lan- 
guage 23 : but their orators and writers had too much 
taste often to adopt such affected ornaments in their 
prose compositions. In the best poets of Greece 
and Rome, innumerable examples may be found of 
it, yet it occurs too seldom to have been considered 
as any very essential ornament. The unknown 
author of the treatise on the poetry of Homer, some- 
times attributed to Plutarch, says expressly, that 
similarity of termination, or rhyme, was a figure 
used by him, and that it contributes greatly to the 



22 Depping. Sammlung der alten Spanischen Romanzen. 
Einleitung, p. xiii. 

23 Aristot. Rhet. Lib. III. ch. 9. Quintil. Lib. IX. eh, iii. 
Dionys. Hal, etc. Muratori, Antiq. Ital, vol. iii. dissert. 40. 
col. 685. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 15 

grace and beauty of a poem. He gives many ex- 
amples: as, 

Xprj IjeTvov irapeovroc <piXe7v> ideXovra $e 7re/>07rei> 24 . 

It is to be found in the tragedians, though rarely, 
as in Sophocles : 

TO 0° a,KOV<TCJ[A€V, 

kccI [xvj xpeigL TroXe^w/ycev 25 . 

AV J 5 5. \ 

iper , onccOot, 

[/.eydXyv j/Xv i/Ao) 

rovruv Be^evoL 

Zvyyvoof/.ocrvvYjV, 

[AeydXyi/ Se Beott; a,yvcc[A0<rvv7jv 2Q . 



24 'Y7rap^£i de oholotsXevtov crxrjjia 7rap' avrip, Iv § ra kujXcl 
elg 6/xoiac twv rix ix)V ^^ L Q reXevra, rag avrag GvXXa/3ag ev 

Tolg irkpaGiv E^owa. Kat ra roiavTa jxaXwra TrpocrW- 

9rjaL T(fi Xoyy \aptv koi rjSovrjv, Edit. Ernesti, Horn. Opera, 
vol. v. p. 168. Upon a cursory perusal of the Iliad I have found 
the following, besides many other imperfect rhymes : A. 220. 
B. 484. A. 382. E. 239. 529, 530. 865. Z. 232. 236. A. 105. 
M. 274. £. 10, 11. n. 86. 2. 555. 606. T. 143. $. 239. In 
the Odyssey, A. 40. 397. 9. 224. K. 425. M. 70. E. 199. n. 353. 
$. 90.X. 324. 

^'^Edip. in Col. 177. 

26 Trachin. 1227. 



16 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

• KOU [AY} loKoJ[A€V y dpavreq a *V V^U^Ba, 

ovk a.VTiTi<r€iv avQiq oi *v AuTrw/xefla 27 . 

r) iavyj[aov€V€h; ovv, Si aoi iraprjvea-oc, ; 
<rd(j) > \<r6\ ineinep elo-rana!; fi;v»iWa 28 . 

The modern Greek verses rhyme like those of other 
European countries. 

From the many instances which occur in the frag- 
ments of Ennius and other ancient poets, it seems 
not improbable that rhyme constituted an essential 
part of the primitive poetry of Rome, and that it 
was borrowed from the Fescennina Licentia of the 
country people, who enlivened their harvest-homes 
by abusing each other in alternate verse 29 . 

Cicero has quoted the following lines from Ennius, 
or some other old poet : 

Coelum nitescere — arbores frondescere. 
Vites laetiferce pampinis pubescere, 
Rami baccarum ubertate incurvescere 30 . 

and, 

Haec omnia vidi inflammari, 
Priamo vi vitam evitari 
Jovis aram sanguine turpari 31 . 

27 Ajax, 1049. 28 Philoct. 121. ed. Bothe. 

29 Horace, Ep. II. v. 139. 30 Cicero, Tusc. Lib. I. sect, 28. 

31 Cicero, Tusc. sect. 35. Evitare is occidere. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 17 

Non cauponantes — bellum, sed belligerantes 32 . 

Even in the more polished poets it occurs frequently. 
A few specimens may suffice : 

In Ovid ; quite in the Leonine monkish style : 

Quot coelum Stellas, tot habet Roma puellas. 
In Propertius : 

Non non humani sunt partus talia dona, 
Ista decern menses non peperere bona. 

Horace : 

Nox erat, et ccelo — fulgebat luna sereno, 

Inter minora sidera. 
Cum tu, magnorum — numen laesura deorum, 

In verba jurabas mea. 

Again : 

Non satis est pulchra esse poemata, dulcia sunto^ 
Et quocunque volent animum auditoris agunto. 

Virgil : 

Ilium indignanti — similem, similemque minanti. 

But although occasional rhyme was considered as 

32 Cic. Off. Lib. I. 



18 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

a poetical beauty, and many examples of it were to 
be met with in the times of classical purity., the 
proper Latin poetry of which it formed a regular 
and constituent part,, was the invention of the middle 
ages. Whether its introduction was accelerated, or 
derived its origin from any of the vernacular lan- 
guages, I will not pretend to say, as I think we have 
not sufficient materials to decide : but I shall observe 
that, in point of fact, there are no poems extant in 
any of the modern European languages of equal anti- 
quity with the rhyming Latin verses, unless perhaps 
in some of the Celtic dialects. But there is no ne- 
cessity to resort to this supposition. Rhyme being 
already well known in the Latin language, many 
circumstances naturally occasioned its more exten- 
sive use. As the language degenerated in purity, 
as the tone of literature was debased, false orna- 
ments, antithesis, puns, and rhyme, became more 
usual in prose writers, particularly the ecclesiastics. 
Cyprian, Sidonius Apollinaris, Cassiodorus, and Au- 
gustine, abound with them. As the genuine spirit 
of poetry evaporated, poets gradually substituted 
other contrivances to maintain their distinguishing 
character. 

The name of Leonine, given to these verses, was 
derived not from any supposed resemblance to a 
lion, but from Leonius, or Leoninus, a canon of the 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. J 9 

order of Saint Benedict at Paris, and a monk of 
Saint Victor's at Marseilles, who lived about the 
year 1135 ; and, though not the inventor, was a 
celebrated composer in this kind of verse 33 . 

The rules of prosody were at first so pedantically 
observed, that they produced a monotonous unifor- 
mity : but they were gradually neglected, and verses 
were at last distinguished chiefly by the number of 
syllables, and the accent, or emphasis ; the accented 
and unaccented syllables being substituted in the 
different feet for long and short syllables. The hex- 
ameter measure was generally employed, except in 
hymns of the church, in which, after the example of 
Fsudentius, principally dimeter iambics, and tro- 
chaics, were used. Eberhardus, a learned man of 
Bethune, in the beginning of the thirteenth century 
wrote a very long poem in hexameters and pentame- 
ters, not in rhyme, entitled The Labyrinth, or the 
Miseries of Schoolmasters, in which he treats of 
their various duties. The third section is on versifi- 
cation ; and, after giving the rules for other kinds of 
verse, he proceeds thus to rhyming Latin poetry : 

Sunt inventoris de nomine dicta Leonis 
Carmina, quae tali sunt modulanda moclo. 

33 Pasquier, Recherch. de la France, Lib. VII. ii. p. 596. 
iii. p. 600. 

c 2 



20 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

He then gives many specimens in different metres 
from four syllables upwards, beginning with 

Fac, Maria, 
Caecis via, 
Maris Stella, 
Dei cella, 
Me vitare, 
Et calcare 
Mundi ccenum, 
Malo plenum 34 . 

Rhyme being once introduced into Latin poetry 
was refined upon by successive poets with infinite 
variety. It was either, 1st, completed in one line, 
or, Ildly, extended into more, so as to form stanza^. 

I. 1. The line was divided into two parts, and 
the middle, at the pause, rhymed with the end. 

As in the epitaph upon Roger, duke of Sicily, in 
]101— 

Linquens terrenas — migravit dux ad amoenas 
Rogerius sedes, — nam coeli detinet sedes. 

Pentameters of the same form occur — 

Permutant mores — homines cum dantur honores ; 
Corde stat inflato — pauper, honore dato. 

34 Eberhardus Bethuniae oriundus vixit anno 1212. Scripsit 
Labyrinthus, sive Carmen de Miseriis rectorum scholarum. Ley- 
ser. p. 795. 845. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 21 

These were called versus cristati 35 . 

The same rhyme was sometimes extended through 
many lines ; as in the convivial verses : 

Funde vinuru, funde — tanquam sint fluminis undae, 
Nee quseras unde — sed fundas semper abunde 36 . 

2. The line was again divided into three parts, 
which all rhymed, and the verses were called Tri- 
lices; as, 

O Valachi — vestri stomachi — sunt amphora Bacchi. 
Vos estis — Deus est testis — teterrima pestis. 

II. They formed stanzas, in which the rhymes ex- 
tended beyond one line. 

1 . The first and most usual of this kind, and the 
proper Leonine, was the couplet, in which two 
verses rhymed only at the end, and the second was 
sometimes a pentameter. The rhymes were usually 
completed in two lines : sometimes in four lines; and 
there are instances in which the same was continued 
for a great number of lines. 

2. Or each line was divided, as before, into two 
parts, which formed several varieties, and might be 
considered as four short verses. 

The middles and the ends rhymed alternately. 

85 Eberhardus in Leyser. p. 832. m Moreau. 



22 



ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 



Si tibi grata seges — est morum, gratus haberis : 
Si virtu tis eges — despiciendus eris. 
Criminibus mersos — toto conamine vites, 
A vitiis tersos — cordis amore cites 37 . 

Or the first and fourth parts rhymed, and the second 
and third : 

Est domini donum — puri devotio cordis. 

Contemptus sordis — initiale bonum 38 . 

Or all four parts rhymed ; and even the same words 
were repeated, which Reginaldus calls versus reci- 
proce Leoninicenses, or dicaces. 

Me recreas fessum — validus nam, si recrees, sum. 
Carmine vates sum — recreas si carmine fessum 39 . 

3. There were three divisions in each line, which 
made more varieties. 

The beginning and middle of each verse rhymed, 
and the two ends as in the couplet. 

As in a poem by Damianus, bishop of Ostia, ad- 
dressed to the Virgin : 

O miseratrix — O dominatrix — praecipe dictu 
Ne devastemur — ne lapidemur — grandinis ictu. , 

The rhyme of the beginning and middle was some- 
times continued in the second line : 

37 Eberhardus, p. 832. 38 Ibid. ?f) Reginaldus in Malchum. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 23 

Virgo beata — salusque parata — benigna precanti, 
Dona rogata — dabis cumulata — tibi fabulanti 40 . 

Sometimes the beginnings middle,, and end,, of one 
line rhymed with the corresponding parts of the 
second : 

Cellula mellis — fundis ardorem — virgo serena, 
Nescia fellis — cui dat honorem — nostra Camoena 41 . 

At length rhyming was carried to such an extent, 
that every word of one verse corresponded with those 
of another ; and it could go no farther : 

Quos anguis dims tristi mulcedine pavit, 
Hos sanguis minis Christi dulcedine lavit 42 ! 

Great refinements occur in the mode of rhyming, 

and names were given to the different kinds of rhyme. 

When the rhyme was formed by two words,, they 

were called versus cornuti, as in the satire of Regi- 

naldus against his rival: 

Lividus et rodens — putrescat in ore suo dens: 
Qui veluti sorex — mea rodit et atterit, O rex, 
O Deus hunc puni — cessaverit a crepitu ni. 
Clam lacerat caecos — bona limat, ut invidiam cos. 

A mode in which the first half of a word constituted 
the rhyme produced verses called inversi. 

40 Eberhardus, p. 835. 41 Ibid. * 2 Moreau. 



24 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Malche, mei memor es — to, meosque miserere labores. 
Scripta dedi, cessa — re precatur dextera^/essa 
Carmina jam marce — re vides lasso mihi parce. 
Multa tuli, festa — re jube post edita gesta. 
Praecipe me pausa—re, rogat finem dare causa. 

We may recollect the humorous verses prefixed by 
Cervantes to his immortal work : 

Si de llegarte a los bue- 
libro, fueres con letu- 
no te dira el boquirru- 
que non pones bien los de — 

Besides hexameters and pentameters, other kinds 
of verse were used, particularly dimeter iambics, or 
trochaics : 

Deus, tuorum militum 

Sors, et corona, premium, 

Laudes canentes martyris 

Absolve nexu criminis. 

These were likewise much varied : the following is 
an usual and pleasing form : 

Audi, Deus, 
Quod te reus, 

Mole pressus criminum, 
Supplex orat 
Et implorat, 

Credens in te Dominum. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 



25 



The strenuous idleness of the cloister gave birth 
to an infinite number of whimsical and laborious pro- 
ductions. A species of literary economy made one 
word, or part of a word, serve for many lines. 

As in the following rules for a convivial entertain- 
ment : 

Nemo cibum capiat — donee benedictio fiat, 
Privetur mensa — qui spreverit hsec documenta. 

"vultus hilares habe- "] 

sal cultello capi- 
quid edendum sit ne pet- 
non depositum capi- 
rixas, murmur, fugi- 
membra recta sede- 
mappam mundam tene- r atls - 
ne scalpatis cave- 
nullis partem tribu- 
morsus non rejici- 
modicum sed crebro bib- 

^ grates Christo refer- 



Dum manducatis^ 



Another specimen 

Arbore sub qua- 
Quod primus A- 
Sed postremus A- 
Damna prioris A- 
Si non primus A- 
Non postremus A- 



>dam,< 



dictavit clericus A- ""] 
peccavdt in arbore qua- 
natus de virgine qua- 
reparavit in arbore qua- 
peccasset in arbore qua- 
moreretur in arbore qua- 



>dam. 



26 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 

Another, which may suffice : 

Etcanis^ f venatur ^ flustrat, 

5>in sylvis^J J>et omnia^ 

Et lupus J Lnutritur J Lvastat. 

I shall now proceed to give specimens of rhyming 
Latin poetry, from the third to the fifteenth centu- 
ries inclusive. 

The Third Century. 

The oldest poem which I have met with was 
written by Commodianus. Rigalt, who first pub- 
lished this writer 43 , misled by an erroneous passage 
in his manuscript, supposed him to have lived in 
the reign of Constantine, and during the episcopate 
of Sylvester: but the learned Dodwell, in an ex- 
press dissertation upon the subject, has proved him 
to have been a contemporary of St. Cyprian, who 
suffered martyrdom in the year 258 ; and conse- 
quently he flourished in the middle of the third 
century 44 . He was originally a pagan, probably of 



43 At the end of his edition of St. Cyprian, Paris, 1666. 

44 Dissertatio de Commodiano, at the end of his Annales 
Velleiani, etc. The last and best edition of Commodianus is by 
Davis, at the end of his Minucius Felix. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 27 

Africa. In the course of his studies, having met 
with the sacred writings, he was converted to Chris- 
tianity, and consecrated his talents to the service of 
his new profession. In this poem he calls himself 
Gazseus, whether from the city of Gaza is uncertain, 
and assumes the humble appellation of Mendicus 
Christi. It contains about twelve hundred lines, 
and is entitled Instructions. The subjects are 
miscellaneous ; attacks upon heathenism, and advice 
to Christians. It is written, as Gennadius justly 
says, mediocri sermone, et quasi versu, vili satis et 
crasso sensu. The whole is a series of acrostics, the 
lines under every head beginning with the letters of 
which the title consists, as prsefatio, indignatio, and 
so forth. The conclusion, besides being an acrostic 
upon the name of the author, taking the first letters 
of each line from the bottom, Commodianus Men- 
dicus Christi, i§ likewise all in one rhyme. 



NOMEN GAZ^LI. 

I ncolae coelorum, futuri cum Deo Christo, 
T enente principium, vidente cuncta de coelo. 
S implicitas, bonitas, habitet in corpore vestro. 
I rasci nolite sine causa fratri devoto; 
R ecipietis enim quicquid feceritis ab illo. 
H oc placuit Christo, resurgere mortuos imo, 



28 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

C urn suis eorporibus, et quos ignis ussit in aevo, 

S ex millibus annis completis, mundo finito. 

V ertitur interea coelum, tenore mutato ; 

C omburuntur enim impii tunc igne divino ; 

I ta Dei summi ardet creatura gemendo. 

D igniores stemmate et generati praeclaro, 

N obilesque viri, sub Antichristo devicto, 

E x prsecepto Dei, rursum viventes in aevo, 

M ille quidem annis, ut serviant Sanctis et Alto 

S ub jugo servili, ut portent victualia collo: 

U t iterum autem judicentur regno finito. 

N ullificantes Deum, completo millesimo anno, 

A b igne peribunt, cum montibus ipsi loquendo. 

I n bustis et tumulis omnis caro redditur acto, 

D emurguntur inferno, trahunt psenas in sevo r 

O stenduntur illis et legunt gesta de coelo, 

M emoria prisca debito et merita digno. 

M erces in perpetuo secundum facta Tyranno. 

O mnia non possum comprendere parvo libello : 

C uriositas docti inveniet nomen in isto. 



The Fourth Century. 

Rhyming poetry, having been employed by Chris- 
tian poets, and found to be peculiarly adapted to 
music, it was applied to hymns composed for the 
service of the church, with considerable beauty, in 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 29 

metres adopted from Prudentius, and other preced- 
ing writers, chiefly in dimeter iambics, and trochaics, 
in which prosody was gradually neglected. 

Saint Hilary, who was bishop of Poitiers from the 
year 355 to 368, a man of genius, was the first who 
was eminent in these compositions 44 . The rhymes 
in his verses are very regular and perfect ; as on the 
Epiphany : 

Jesus refulsit omnium 

Pius redemptor gentium, 

Totum genus fidelium 

Laudes celeb ret dramatum, k. 7. X. 

So in the hymn on fasts : 

Jesus quadrigenariee 
Dicator abstinentiae, 
Quique, ob salutem mentium, 
Hoc sanxeras jejunium. . 



Pope Damasus, a Spaniard, who occupied the see 
of Rome from 366 to 384, was an elegant poet, but 
of forty poems printed in the great Collection of the 



44 Cave, etc. 

Qui primus hymnorum gloria claruit. 

Vossius, de Script. Lat. 



30 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 

Works of the Fathers one only is in rhyme,, though 
he wrote others. It is upon Saint Agatha 45 . 

Martyris ecce dies Agathse 
Virginis emicat eximiae, 
Christus earn sibi qua sociat, 
Et diadema duplex decorat. 

Stirpe decens, elegans specie, 
Sed magis actibus atque fide, 
Terrea prospera nil reputans, 
Jussa Dei sibi corde ligans. 

In the Cotton manuscripts is an epistle from him 
to his friend Rainaldus 46 : 

VERSUS DAMASI AD AMICUM SUUM. 

Cartula nostra tibi — portat, Rainalde, salutes, 
Pauca videbis ibi — sed non mea dona refutes. 

Dulcia sunt animse — solatia quae tibi mando, 
Sed prosunt minime — nisi serves hsec operando. 

Quod mea verba monent — tu noli tradere vento, 
Cordis in aure sonent — et sic retinere memento, 

Ut tibi grande bonum — nostri monitus operentur, 
Perque Dei donum — tibi caelica regna parentur. 

45 Bibiioth. Mag. Patmm, vol. xxvii. p. 55. His works were 
likewise published separately. 

4G Cotton MSS. Titus, D. 24. fol. 91. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 31 

Menti sincerae — possunt haec verba placere. 
Haec iter ostendunt — hortantur non reprehendunt. 

After this preface the poem begins — 

Vox divina sonat — quod nemo spem sibi ponat 
In rebus mundi — quod causam dant pereundi. 
Quisquis amat Christum — mundum non diligit istum. 

etc. etc. 
Saint Ambrose, the great and pious bishop of Mi- 
lan, who was born in 333, consecrated bishop in 374, 
and died in 397^ contributed many beautiful hymns 
to the church, mostly in rhyme, such as those which 
begin 47 

Rerum Creator optime — 
Te lucis ante terminum — 
Veni Creator spiritus — 

The next poem with which I shall present the 
reader is of a very extraordinary nature, and was 
written by the celebrated Saint Augustine, upon the 
following occasion. The Donatists, a sect which arose 
in the fourth century from a double election of a 
bishop of Carthage, but without holding any hereti- 
cal doctrines, excepting that of rebaptizing those 
whom they denominated heretics, were vigorously 
opposed by the bishop of Hippp. He wrote this 
psalm against them, as he informs us, in rhyme, to 

47 Cave Hist. Scrip. Eccl. 



32 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

be sung to the very lowest people, who spoke Latin 
as their vernacular dialect, for their information, and 
to assist their memory. He says that he did not 
compose it in regular metre, that the restrictions of a 
correct prosodiacal verse might not compel him to 
use words remote from common use 48 . 

The poem is in stanzas of twelve lines each, every 
stanza beginning with a different letter of the alpha- 
bet in order, from A to U. There is besides one 
line for a chorus, or burden, which he calls hypo- 
psalma, for the people to respond, and which was re- 
peated at the end of each stanza ; with this, and an 
epilogue of thirty lines, the whole consists of two 
hundred and seventy lines, which all rhyme to the 
letter E. It was written in the year 393, but, not- 
withstanding the bishop's efforts, this absurd sect 
was not finally suppressed till the sixth century 49 . 

48 Augustini Opera Benedict, vol. ix. p. 1. Paris 1694. 

Augustini lib. i. Retractationum, cap. xx. Volens etiam 
causam Donatistarum ad ipsius humillimi vulgi, et onmino im- 
peritorum atque ideotarum notitiam pervenire, et eorum quantum 
fieri posset per nos inhaerere memoriae, psalmum qui eis canta- 
retur, per Latinas literas feci, sed usque ad U literam, tales 

enim abcedarios appellant. Ideo autem non aliquo carminis 

genere id fieri volui, ne me necessitas metrica ad aliqua verba, 
quae minus sunt usitata, compelleret. 

40 Mosheim, vol. ii. p. 142. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE, 33 

PSALMUS CONTRA PARTEM DONATI. 

Hypopsalma. 
Omnes qui gaudetis de pace modo verum judicate. 

Abundantia peccatorum solet fratres conturbare : 
Propter hoc Dominus noster voluit nos preemonere, 
Comparans regnura ccelorum reticulo misso in mare 
Congreganti multos pisces, omne genus, hinc et inde, 
Quos, cum traxissent ad littus, tunc coeperunt separare. 
Bonos in vasa miserunt, reliquos malbs in mare, 
Quisquis novit evangelium recognoscat cum timore, 
Videt reticulum Ecclesiam, videt hoc saeculum mare. 
Genus autem mixtum piscis, Justus est cum peccatore. 
Seculi finis est littus. Tunc est tempus separare. 
^Quando retia ruperunt multum dilexerunt mare. 
Vasa sunt sedes sanctorum, quo non possunt pervenire 
Repetant, Omnes qui gaudetis, etc. ut supra. 

Bonus auditor fortasse quaerit, qui ruperunt rete ? 
Homines multum superbi, qui justos se dicunt esse. 
Sic fecerunt scissuram, et altare contra altare. 
Diabolo se tradiderunt cum pugnant de traditione, 
Et crimen quod commisserunt in ai«os volunt transferre : 
Ipsi tradiderunt libros, et nos audent accusare. 
Ut pejus committant scelus quam commisserunt et ante 
-Quod possent caussam librorum excusare de timore, 
Quod Petrus Christum negavit dum terreretur de morte. 
Modo quo pacto excusabunt factum altare contra altare? 

D 



34 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Et, pace Christi conscissa, spem ponunt in homine ? 
Quod persecutio non fecit ipsi fecerunt in pace. 
Repet. O nines qui gaudent, etc. 

Custos noster, Deus magne, tu nos potes liberare 
A pseudoprophetis istis, qui nos quaerunt devorare. 



The Fifth Century. 

Saint Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, was born at 
Kirkpatrick, about the year 371 ; in 432 he went to 
Rome, where, having being consecrated to his high 
office by pope Celestine, he returned to his country 
and completed the conversion of the Irish. In this 
great work, it is said by the legendary historians of 
his life, that he built three hundred and sixty-five 
churches, founded as many bishoprics, ordained three 
thousand priests, baptized twelve thousand converts, 
raised sixty dead persons to life, and died himself 
about the year 492 at the great age of 122 50 . His 
works have been published amongst the fathers, and 
by sir James Ware, but the following hymn is from 
a manuscript in the Cotton library 51 . 

30 Waraei Hibem. Sac. — and his Works, London, 1656, 8vo. 
Fabritii Bib. Med. Lat. Cave, Eccl. Hist. etc. 
« Cotton MSS. Titus D. 24. fol. 61 . b. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 35 

VERSUS SANCTI PATRICII EPISCOPI. 

Constet quantus honos humanae conditions 
Scire vol ens, hujus serie videat rationis. 
Non hominem verbo solo Deus effigiavit, 
Quern factums erat, sic quomodo cuncta creavit. 
Dixit enim " riant" et statim facta fuerunt, 
Quae sex praecipit spatio prodire dierem. 
Ast hominem factums, ait, " talem faciamus 
Format, sensum discernendi contribuamus. 
Sicque sui compos, terrestribus ac dominetur, 
Subjectusque suo plasmatori famuletur." 
Compositum tali mortalem conditione, 
Condidit, instruxit sensu simul et ratione, etc. etc. 

If the following poem had been written by the 
person to whom it has been attributed, in the Biblio- 
theca Patrum, by Pamelius, and other writers follow- 
ing Trithemius, it would stand at the head of these 
specimens. The supposed author was the celebrated 
Tertullian, who was converted to Christianity in 185, 
was ordained a presbyter of Carthage in 192, after- 
wards became a Montanist, and died in 220. Several 
of his works remain, but this poem, entitled De Ju- 
clicio Domini, by Cave and later ecclesiastical writers 
is thought to be supposititious. Allix says it was 
written by Verecundus, an African bishop, in the 
middle of the fifth century, to which therefore I con- 
sign it. 

j>2 



36 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

DE JUDICIO DOMINI, 

Quis mihi ruricolas aptabit carmine musas, 
Et verni roseas titulabit floribus auras, 
iEstivseque graves maturet messis aristas, 
Quis dabit et tumidas autumni vitibus uvas? 
Quisve hyemi placidas semper laudabit olivas, 
Recludetque ipsis renovatas fontibus undas, 
Frondentesque vago caedet de gramine fiores ? 
Protinus aetherii modulabor luminis auras. 
Jam mihi luciferas liceat contingere musas, 
Pandere secretas fluviali vertice lymphas, 
Et laetos alio positas sub sidere sylvas, 
iEternasque simul modulabor carmine flammas. 
Unde mare tumidum immense fluctuat unda, 
Quae virtus solidas moveatque tremiscere terras, 
Et lux unde novo praefulserit aurea mundo, 
Quisve hominem leeto potuisset fingere limo, 
Unde genus vacuo potuisset crescere saeclo, 
Et quae vivendi populo sit multa cupido 
Quaeve creata malo, moriendi quaeve propago. 

These lines are followed by six which rhyme in IS, 
then by two ending in rerum and verum, after which 
rhyme disappears 52 . 

The poetical merits of the next poems are superior 
to any we have yet seen, but there is some doubt 

52 G. Fabritii Poetarum Veterum Ecclesiast. Opera. Basil, 
1564. Mattaire, Corpus Poetarum. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 37 

respecting the author. Theodolus, Theodulus, or 
Theodoras, was an Italian priest who went into 
Cselesyria, where he was consecrated bishop, in the 
reign of the emperor Zeno, which continued from 
the year 474 to 491. He was a man of learning 
and talents, and wrote several works in verse. Such 
is the account given of him by Trithemius 53 , and 
some of the elder ecclesiastical historians ; but Ley- 
ser, Cave, and most of the modern writers, have sup- 
posed that the author of these poems was a different 
person, an Italian likewise, of the same name, who 
lived they knew not when, and having studied at 
Athens, had many disputes with the pagans, and* 
wrote his seglogues against them. Leyser, and after 
him Muratori, imagine, for reasons which have no 
foundation, that he lived in the tenth century. At 
that time it may reasonably be doubted whether there 
were any pagans at Athens ; and I think the internal 
evidence is in favour of an earlier origin. The lan- 
guage and ideas are more classical than are to be 
found in later writers. A controversy between 
Christianity and paganism was natural whilst pa- 
ganism subsisted in some vigour, but would be out 
of place when it was entirely abolished 54 . 

53 Trithemius de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis. Cologn. 1546,. 
p. 83. 

34 Leyser. Bi. p. 293. Bib. Med, Lat. 



38 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

His iEgloga is written in imitation of Virgil's third 
eclogue. Die mihi, Dameeta, cujum pecus ? The 
subject is the respective merits of Christianity and 
heathenism. The disputants are Pseustis, who is 
the advocate for heathenism, Alithia, the patroness 
of the Christian religion, and Phronesis, who is chosen 
as umpire ; and they alternately compare the fictions 
of the heathen poets with the miracles of the Old 
Testament 55 . 

TYTULUS. 

I Incipit liber vel Theoduli aegloga. 

iEthiopum terras — jam fervida torruit aestas, 

In cancro solis — dum volvitur aureus axis, 
Compuleratque suas, — tilia sub amoena, capellas, 

Natus ab Athenis — pastor cognomine Pseustis. 
Pellis pantherse — cui corpus texit utrinque, 

Discolor, et rigidas — perflavit fistula buccas, 

55 The editions of the iEgloga which I have used are, 1 . The 
iEgloga with a Commentary, (in Gothic letters, printed in 1487,) 
by Odo of Picardy. 2. The same with another commentary, 
printed by Iod. Pelgrim and H. Jacob in 1508. 3. In Autores 
Octo Morales, Leyden, 1538. 4. Manuale Biblicum, sive En- 
chiridion S. S. Scripturae a Catholicae Apostolicae veteris Ec- 
clesiae Patribus compendiatum, Franc. 1610, 12mo. In the 
copy in the Bodleian Library, this poem is collated with Vos- 
sius's MS» which readings I have adopted. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. OV 

Emittens sonitum — per mille foramina vocum. 

Ad fontem juxta— pascebat oves Alithia, 
Virgo decora nimis — David de semine regis. 

Cujus habens citheram — fluvii percussit ad undam. 
Substiterat fluvius— tanta dulcedine captus, 

Auscultendo quasi modulantis — carmina plectris, 
Ipsaque balantum — grex obliviscitur esum. 

Non tulit hsec Pseustis, — sed motus felle doloris, 
Littoris alterius— -proclamat ab aggere tutus. 

Cur Alithia canis— rebus stultissima mutis ? 
Si juvat ut vincas — mecum certare potestas. 

Fistula nostra tuum,— si vincas, cedat in usum, 
Victa dabis citheram — legem coeamus in aequam. 

Alithia accepts the challenge, and Fronesis appear- 
ing is chosen to decide between them. They then 
begin, and contend alternately in quaternions : 

PSEUSTIS. 

Primus Crateis — Saturnus venit ab oris, 
Aurea per cunctas — disponens saecula terras. 
Nullus ei genitor, — nee quisquam tempore major. 
Ipso gaudet avo — superum generosa propago. 

Alithia. 
Incola primus homo — fuit in viridi paradiso, 
Conjuge viperem — donee suadente venenum 
Hausit, eo cunctis— miscendo pocula mortis : 
Sentit adhue proles—quod commisere parentes. 



40 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY 0¥ 

PSEUSTIS. 

Splendorem tanti — non passus Jupiter auri 
Expulit illatis — patrem crudeliter armis, 
Discolor argento — mundi successit imago, 
Et jam primatum — dedit illi curia divum. 

Alithia. 
Exulat ejectus — de sede pia protoplastus, 
Ac cinis in cinerem — naturae mutat honorem. 
Ne tamen eeterni— temeremur stipite pomi, 
Flammis ante fores — vetat ensis adire volentes. 

In this manner the contest is continued through 
seventy-four quatrains. The sacrifices of Cecrops 
are opposed by those of Cain and Abel. Lycaon by 
Enoch : Deucalion by Noah : Ganimedes by Noah's 
raven and dove : the war of the giants by the build- 
ing of Babel : Apollo tending the herds of Admetus 
by Abraham's departure from Haran : Daedalus by 
the sacrifice of Isaac : Phillis and Demophoon by 
Lot : Venus wounded by Diomede by Jacob's wrestl- 
ing with an angel : the false accusation of Hippoly- 
tus by Joseph's continence : Europa by the golden 
calf: Amphiareus by the secret burial of Moses: Io 
changed into a heifer by Balaam's ass : Diana 
lengthening the night to favour Jupiter's amours, by 
Joshua's causing the sun to stand still : Hercules 
by Sampson: the thousand names of the gods by 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 41 

the three names of the Trinity : Orpheus by David : 
Triptolemus the inventor of corn by Elias who prayed 
for rain : Bellerophon, and the Gorgon's head by 
Elias's ascent to heaven : Tithonus by king Heze- 
kiah: the Olympic games by Israel's lamentations 
over Joshua : Salmoneus by Nebuchadnezzar : Jupi- 
ter and Danae by Daniel in the lion's den : Niobe by 
Susanna : Medea by Judith : and Scilla by Vashti. 
At length Pseustis yields the palm to her rival, 
aria thus addresses Fronesis : 

Obsecro te, Fronesi — jubeas reticere sorori 
Quo tendit ? Cedo, — nee me cessisse negabo. 

Upon which Fronesis counsels Alithia to spare the 
conquered foe, and concludes : 

Threicius vates— commovit pectine manes. 
Te moveant lacrimae. — Jam tollit cornua Phoebe, 
Sol petit occasum, — frigus succedit opacum. 
Desini quod restat, — ne desperatio lredat. 

His poem De Contempt u Mundi abounds in 
rhyme, and contains upwards of nine hundred lines : 

Pauper amabilis— et venerabilis — est benedictas 
Dives inutilis — insatiabilis — est male dictus. 

Qui bona negligit — et mala diligit — intrat abyssum,. 
Nulla pecunia— nulla potentia — liberat ipsum. 



42 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Irremiabilis — insatiabilis — ilia vorago. 

Hie ubi mergitur — horrida cernitur — omnis imago. 

Haec cruciamina — per sua crimina— promeruere, 
Vir miserabilis — Evaque flebilis — haec subiere. 

Jussa Dei pia — jussa salubria — si tenuissent, 

Vir neque foemina — nee sua semina — morte perissent- 

Sed quia spernere— jussaque solvere — non timuere, 
Mors gravis irruit — hoc merito fuit — et periere. 

Janua mortis — passio fortis — crimen eorum, 
Attulit orbi — semina morbi — totque malorum. 

Ilia parentes — atque sequentes — culpa peremit, 
Atque piarum — delitiarum — munus ademit. 

Flebile factum — dans cruciatum — dansque dolorem, 
Ilia mereri — perdere veri — Regis amorem. 

Jam lacrimos& — tamque perosa — morte perire, 
Atque ferorum — suppliciorum — claustra subire. 

Est data saevam — causa per Evam — perditionis, 
Dum meliorem— sperat honorem — voce draconis. 

Haec male credens, — nosquoque laedens— -crimine magno, 
Omine tristi — subdidit isti — saecula damno. 



KHYMING LATIN VERSE. 43 

Stirps miserorum — plena dolorum — postea crevit, 
Hie quoque damnis — pluribus annis — subdita flevit. 

There is another part of this poem with similar 
beginning and ending. 



In re terrena<{ Labor eminet atque cate- >i 



S Nihil aliud est nisi pae- 
Labor eminet atque cat 
Nee lex nee juris habe- 



etc. etc. etc. 



The Sixth Century. 

On a church at Rome built by Belisarius about 
the year 538 is the following inscription : 

Hanc vir patricius — Vilisarius, urbis amicus, 

Ob culpse veniam — condidit ecclesiam. 
Hanc idcirco pedem — sacram qui ponis in aedem, 
Ut miseratus eum — ssepe precare Deum 56 . 
Janua haec est templi Domino defensa potenti. 

The canon of classical Latin poetry was supposed 
to be closed by the works of Ausonius, Paulinus, Si- 
donius, Sedulius, Arator, Juvencus, Prosper, and 
Fortunatus. Amongst these, Venantius Honorius 
Clementianus Fortunatus was an Italian, born about 
the year 530, at Ceneda near Trevisa. He was 
educated at Ravenna, went into France, was conse- 
36 Baron. Annales, in anno 538. 



44 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

crated bishop of Poitiers., and did not die before the 
year 600 57 . He wrote eleven books of poetry , and 
in elegant verse,, worthy of a better age, immortalized 
the barbarous names of Sigebert and Brunechild, 
Chilperic, and Fredegunda, queen Theudechild, Ge- 
lesuintha, Mummelinus, Radegunda, Chlodobert, 
and Dagobert 58 . Most of his poetry is without 
rhyme; there are, however, the two following rhyming 
hymns : 

HYMNUS AD BAPTIZATOS. 

Tibi laus perennis, auctor 
Baptismatis sacrator. 
Hie fonte passionis 
Das prsemium salutis. 

Nox clara plus et alma 
Quam luna, sol, et astra, 
Quae luminum corona 
Reddis diem per umbram, 
Tibi laus. 

Dulcis, sacrata, blanda, 
Electa, pura, pulchra, 
Sudans honore mella, 
Rigans odore chrisma, 

Tibi laus 59 . k.t.X. 

v Fabrit. Bib. Med. Lat. 

58 In Biblioth. Mag. Pat. Hist. Litteraire de la France, voL 
iv. p. 46. 59 Fabrit. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 45 

His hymn upon bishop Leontius begins, 

Agnoscat omne seculum 
Antistitem Leontium, 
Burdegalense proemium, 
Dono superno redditum, fc. r. \. 

He wrote likewise the celebrated hymn., Vexilla 
regis prodeunt, which was admitted into the service 
of the church. Another hymn, Pange lingua giori- 
osa, has been attributed to him, but was written 
either by Mammertus Claudiarius, or Thomas Aqui- 
nas. The first line is, however, in a poem of Fortu- 
natus. 

Gregory the great, who was pope from 590 to 
604, added hymns to the church, some of which were 
in rhyme ; as, 

O lux, beata Trinitas 

Et principalis Unitas. 



Rex Christe, factor omnium, 
Redemptor et credentium, 
Placare votis supplicum, 
Te laudibus colentium. 



These examples were followed by many known 



46 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

and unknown ecclesiastics, and the number of rhym- 
ing hymns is very great. 



The Seventh Century, 

In the Antiphonarium of the monastery of Bangor 
in Ireland, in use in the seventh century, is the 
hymn of Saint Comgill, the founder, in which, after 
the first, the lines of each stanza begin with the 
same letter, in the order of the alphabet. The lan- 
guage is barbarous and obscure, and the intermixture 
of Greek words is remarkable : 

Recordemur Justitiae 
Nostri patroni fulgidae, 
Comgilli sancti nomine, 
Refulgentis in opere. 



Audite pantes ta erga 
Allati ad angelica 
Athletse Dei abdita 
A juventute florida 60 .- 



The writer of the life of Saint Faron, quoted by 

60 Muratori, Antiq. Med. Mv\, dissert, xl.; and Bibl. Mag. 
Pat. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 47 

Pelloutier 61 , relates that Clothaire the second, hav- 
ing conquered the Saxons in the beginning of the 
seventh century, commanded a Latin panegyrical 
song to be composed on the occasion, which was sung 
all over France. It is in the measure of their verna- 
cular poetry, and begins : 

De Clotario est canere Rege Francorum 

Qui ivit pugnare cum gente Saxonum, 

Quam graviter provenisset missis Saxonum, 

Si non fuisset inclitus Faro de gente Burgundionum, 

Saint Columbanus was born a little before the 
year 550, in Leinster, was a disciple of Saint Com- 
gill, and a monk in his abbey of Bangor, in Ireland, 
in the province of Ulster, founded in 555. Having 
obtained leave of his superior with twelve other 
monks, they commenced their travels first into Bri- 
tain ; in 589 into Burgundy, where he was patron- 
ized by king Gontran, and erected three monasteries. 
Of that of Luxeu, Ceenobium Luxoviense, he was 
abbot for twenty years. Being banished by Brune- 
child, the ship was miraculously driven back, and, 
after various adventures, he retired at length to 
Agilalf king of the Lombards, and built the monas- 
tery of Bobi near Naples, where he died in 615. 

61 Pelloutier, Memoire sur la Lang. Celtique, Part I. vol. i. 
ch. 22. p. 20. Wartori, Diss. II. vol. i. p. 150, note. 



48 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 

After the example of his master Comgill, he was 
a zealous propagator of monastic devotion, and left 
several rules of monkish discipline. Besides other 
works, he left some poems written with considerable 
elegance 62 . 

His epistle to Hunaldus is a double acrostic upon 
their names. That to Fedolius is in the adonic 
metre, and begins : 

Accipe quaeso 
Nunc tripedali 
Condita versu 
Carminulorum 
Munera parva 63 . 

In his poem de Vanitate Vitae, many lines rhyme, 
as, 

Differentibus vitam mors incerta surripit, 

Omnes superbos vagos mceror mortis corripit. 

Plerique perpessi sunt pcenarum incendia, 
Voluntatis lubriae nolentes dispendia 64 — 



62 Hist. Litteraire de la France, vol. iv. Usher, Bibl. Britan. 
and Sylloge Antiq. Epist. Hibern. Cave. 

63 Bibl. Pat. vol. xii. p. 1. 

64 Muratori, vol.iii. dissert, xl. col. 680. Leyser, p. 177. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 49 

Eugenius the second was bishop of Toledo from 
646 to 657, and wrote a book of poems, in which is 
this epigram : 



DE LITERARUM INVENTORIBUS. 

Moyses primus Hebrseas enaravit literas : 
Mente Phaerrices sagaci condiderunt Atticas : 
Quas Latini scriptitarunt condidit Nicostratas. 
Abraham Syras, et idem repperit Chaldaieas, 
His arte non minore protulit iEgyptias. 
Gulfila prompsit Getarum quas vidimus ultimas 65 . 



The Eighth Century. 

The poem of Moses Mutius of Bergamo, inscribed 
to Justinian the second, to whom he was secretary, 
in 707; and by whose order it was written, de Rebus 
Bergamensibus, is a description of that city in three 
hundred and eighty-two rhyming lines. After the 
prologue, he proceeds — 

Alme Deus, rector, qui terrae frena gubernas, 
Nee sinis absque modo sedes fluitare supernas, 



65 Fabrit, in Eugenio. 

E 



50 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Omnia Bergamese, pie Rex, da cbmmoda genti, 
Pestibus ut careant ssevis, casuque nocenti. 
Nam gens ista tuas leges et jura colendo, 
Non te deseruit, peregrinum dogma sequendo. 

He begins the description — 

Si quis fortfc situm nescis, nomenque locorum, 
Saepe brevem summam tibi nos dicemus eomm 66 . 

Aldhelm, a West Saxon bishop, died in 709, and 
wrote poetry, chiefly not in rhyme. 

In this hymn are both alliteration and rhyme : 

Summum satorem, solia 
Sedet qui per sethralia, 
Cuncta cernens cacumine, 
Ccelorum summo lumine 67 . 



In a long epistle of two hundred and four lines, he 
describes a journey through Devonshire and Corn- 
wall : 

Lector caste, catholice, 
Atque obses athletice, 
Cujus pulsatus precibus 
Obnixe flagitantibus, 

66 Muratori, vol. v. col. 527. 

67 Turner, Archaeol. vol. xiv. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 51 

Hymnista carmen cecini, 
Atque responsa reddidi, 
Sicut prius pepigeram, 
Quando profectus fueram, 
Usque diram Domnoniam, 
Per carentem Cornubiam 
Florulentis cespitibus, 
Et faecundis graminibus. 
Elementa inormia, 
Atque facta informia, 
Quassantur sub iEthera, 
Convex^ cceli camera. 
Dum tremuit mundi machina 
Sub ventorum monarchic, 
Ecce, nocturno tempore, 
Orto brumali turbine, 
Quatiens terram tempestas 
Turbabat, atque vastitas. 
Cum fracto vento fcedere 
Baccbarentur in eethere, 
Et, rupto retinaculo, 
Desseviunt in sseculo. 



He then proceeds to describe the effects of the 
storm, and his own miraculous preservation 68 . 

Saint Boniface, the apostle of the Germans, born 
in Devonshire about 670, propagated the Christian 

68 Bib. Mag. Pat. vol. viii. p, 9£. 
E 2 



52 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

religion in a great part of Germany which was 
buried in the grossest darkness of pagan superstition, 
after founding many abbeys, was consecrated arch- 
bishop of Mentz, and was murdered in 755. In a 
rhyming epistle to his friend Nithard, he has intro- 
duced his name in the middle, in an acrostic 69 . It 
begins : 

Vale, frater, florentibus 
Iuventutis cum viribus, 
At florens in Domino 
In sempiterno solio 70 



The venerable Bede, born in 672, and who died 
about 735, wrote a treatise on the Art of Poetry ; 
but, notwithstanding his merit as an historian and 
prose writer, his verse affords no proof of a poetical 
imagination. 

The commencement of his poem on the year may 
be sufficient. His poetry generally does not rhyme. 

Annus solis continetur quatuor temporibus, 
Ac deinde adimpletur duodecim mensibus, 
Quinquaginta et duabus currit hebdomatibus, 
Trecentenis sexaginta atque quinque diebus 71 , k. t. X. 

69 Hist. Lit. de la France, torn. iv. p. 92. Fabrit. Cave, etc. 

70 Muratori, Diss. XL. 

71 From a manuscript in the British Museum. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 53 

The Ninth Century. 

About the year 850., in the time of Lotharius and 
Lewis, kings of France, flourished Hartman, or Hart- 
mutus, a disciple of Rabanus Maurus, and a monk 
of the Benedictine order of Saint Gall. He wrote 
many things which have perished ; some hymns 
are still extant, the greater part not in rhyme 72 . 



ON THE EPIPHANY. 

Tribus signis, 
Deo dignis, 

- Dies ista colitur; 
Tria signa, 
Laude digna, 

Caetus hie persequitur. 

Stella magos 
Duxit vagos 

Ad praesepe Domini, 
Congaudentes 
Omnes gentes 

Ejus psallunt nomini. 

72 Trithemius ; Cave ; Muratori, Dissert. XL. 



54 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Novum mirum, 
Aqua vinum 

Factum est ad nuptias ; 
Mundus credit, 
Christus dedit, 

Signorum primitias. 

A Johanne, 
In Jordane, 

Christus baptizatus est ; 
Unde lotus, 
Mundus totus, 

Et purificatus est. 

Lector, lege, 
A summo rege 

Tibi benedictio 
Sit in coelis, 
Plebs fidelis 

Psallat, cum tripudio. 

Amen 73 . 



ON INNOCENTS' DAY. 

Cum natus esset Dominus, 
Turbatur Rex incredulus, 

73 Canisii Antiq. Lectiones, vol. v. p. 730. 760. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 55 

Magi tulerunt munera, 
Quos stella duxit praevia. 

Herodes Rex interrogate 

Quo Christus nasci debeat, 

Locumque dici flagitat, 

Ut hunc necare valeat 74 



The Tenth Century. 

From sacred poems and hymns the transition to 
epitaphs was easy. Many in the middle ages^ and 
particularly of the Norman princes,, were of this 
nature,, of which we may select that upon Rollo, who 
died in 917- 

Dux Normannorum, cunctorum norma bonorum, 
Rollo, ferus, fortis, quern gens Nortmanica mortis 

Invocat articulo — hoc jacet in tumulo. 
Ipsi provideat tua sic dementia, Christe, 
Ut semper videat, cum caetibus Angelicis, te, 

Filius atque Dei propitietur. 

A watch song was composed to be sung by the 
guards of the city of Modena, when Italy was in- 

74 Canisii Antiq. Lectiones, etc. 



56 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

vaded by the Hungary about the year 924. It all 
rhymes to the letter A. 

O tu, qui servas armis ista mcenia, 
Noli dormire, moneo, sed vigila. 
Dum Hector vigil extitit in Troja, 
Non earn cepit fraudulenta Grsecia. 

Prima quiete dormiente Troja, 
Laxavit Sinon claustra perfida : 
Per funem lapsa occultata agmina 
Invadunt urbem, et incendunt Pergama. 

Vigili voce avis anser Candida 
Fugavit Gallos ex arce Romulea : 
Pro qua virtute facta est argentea, 
Et a Romanis adorata ut Dea. 

Nos adoramus celsa Christi numina, 
Illi sonora demus nostra jubila, 
Illius magna fisi sub custodia, 
Haec vigilantes jubilemus carmina. 

Then follows an appropriate hymn to Christ and the 
Virgin Mary, and the song then concludes : 

Fortis juventus, virtus audax bellica, 
Vestra per muros audiantur carmina. 
Et sit in armis alterna vigilia, 
Ne fraus hostilis haec invadat mcenia. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 57 

Resultet Eccho comes, Eja vigila, 

Per muros. Eja, dicat Eccho, vigila 75 . 

There is a long poem quoted by William of 
Malmesbury in honor of king Athelstan, the grand- 
son of Alfred, who died in 941 . The beginning is : 

Regia progenies produxit nobile stemma, 
Cum tenebris nostris illuxit splendida gemma, 
Magnus iEthelstanus, patriae decus, orbita recti, 
Illustris probitas, de vero nescia fiecti 76 . 



The Eleventh Century. 

Besides that of Theodulus, there is another poem 
De Contemptu Mundi, in three books, containing 
near two thousand lines, and written by Bernhardus 
Mortanensis, a Cluniacensian monk of the order of 
Saint Benedict, addressed to his abbot Peter. He 
flourished in the reign of the emperor Henry the 
third, about 1040 77 . His censures of the morals 
and manners of his age are pointed and severe. 



75 Muratori, Antiq. Med.yEvi, vol. iii. Dissert. XL. col. 709. 

76 Rerum Anglic. Scriptores, Francof. 1601. 

77 Trithemius de Script. Eccles. Colm. 1546. Cave. Fa- 
bnt. 



58 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

He begins with the last judgement, heaven, and 
hell 78 : 



Hora novissima — tempora pessima — sunt, vigilemus. 
Ecce minaciter — imminet arbiter — ille supremus. 

Imminet, imminet — ut mala terminet — sequa coronet, 
Recta remuneret — anxia liberet — sethera donet. 

Auferat aspera — duraque pondera — mentis onustoe, 
Sobria muniat— -improba puniat — utraque juste. 

Ille piissimus — ille gravissimus — ecce venit Rex, 
Surgathomo reus — instat homo Deus — a patre judex. 

Surgite, currite — simplici tramite — quiquepotestis, 
Rex venit ocius — ipseque conscius— ipseque testis. 

Dum licet impia — dum vacat omnia — fluxa laventur, 
Detur egentibus — alta parentibus — ima parentur. 

Imminet arbiter — ille fideliter — expositurus, 

Quse dabit autdedit — ad bona luxredit — ad mala durus. 



Virgil is thus addressed : 



78 Varia doctomm piorumque Viromm de Corrupto Ecclesiae 
Statu Poemata, Math. Flaccii Illyrici, Basil, 1557. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 5& 

! Maro falleris — hie ubi conseris — arva pioruni. 

Elysias tibi — non reperis ibi — scriptor eoram. 

Musa poetica — lingua scholastica — vox theatralis, 

Haec quia disseris — et male falleris — et male fallis. 

Est homo res levis — est homo flosbrevis— est homo non ens, 

Est homo glarea — terraque terrea— mente reponens. 

He thus laments the vanity of human greatness : 

Est ubi gloria — nunc Babylonia — ubi dims 
Nabuchodonozor — et Darii vigor — illeque Cyrus ? 
Nunc ubi curia — pompaque Julia — Caesar obisti ! 
Te truculentior — orbe potentior — ipse fuisti. 
Nunc ubi Marius — et Fabritius — inscius auri ? 
Mors ubi nobilis — et memorabilis — actio Pauli ? 
Diva Philippica — vox ubi Cselica — nunc Ciceronis t 
Pax ubi civibus — atque rebellious — ira Catonis ? 
Nunc ubi Regulus — aut ubi Romulus — aut ubi Remus ? 
Stat rosa pristina — nomine, nomina — nuda tenemus. 

He censures the women of his time at great 
length. The following is only part of his vehement 
satire : 

Nulla quidem bona, — si tamen et bona — contigit ulla, 
Est mala res bona, — namque fere bona — foemina nulla. 
Fcemina res rea, — res male carnea, — vel caro tota, 
Strenua perdere, — nataque fallere, — fallere docta, 
Fossa novissima, — vipera pessima, — pulchra putredo, 
Semita lubrica, — res male publica, — pvsedaque praedo, 



60 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Horrida noctua, — publica janua, — dulce venenum, 
Nil bene conscia, — mobilis, impia, — vas lue plenum, 
Vas minus utile, — plus violabile, — flagitiorum, 
Insociabile, — dissociabile, — litigiosum, 
Merx leve vendita — sed citb perdita, — serva metalli, 
Flamma domestica, — diligit unica — fallere falli, 
Extat amantibus — hostis, et hostibus — extat arnica. 
Ni petitur petit, — idque lucri metit, — ut sit iniqua. 



There is a book entitled Liber Floreti, on faith, 
morality, and other religious virtues, which contains 
twelve hundred lines, and has been ascribed by some 
to Saint Bernard 79 , by others to pope Clement. 

At the close of the reign of Edward the first, 
about 1303, Robert de Brienne translated into Eng- 
lish metre a French book called Manuel Peche, 
written by an Englishman, William of Waddington, 
and it was a free translation of this Latin poem Flo- 
retus 80 . 

Hie liber extr actus — de pluribus est vocitatus 
Recte Floretus — quia flos est inde reeeptus. 
Et breviter textus — fragrat, virtute repletus, 
Collegi flores — non omnes scd meliores 81 . 

79 Fabrit. vol. i. p. 624. 

80 Auctores Octo Morales. Lugd. 1538. 

Sl Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, Dissert. I. p. 62. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 61 



DE PECCATIS CONTRA SPIRITUM SANCTUM. 

Qui peccat nimium, praesumens de pietate, 
Vel qui desperat de divina bonitate, 
Aut induratus non cessat ab impietate, 
Et quifratris odit virtutes improbitate 
Impugnans verum certus sine commoditate, 
Quern non piget de culparum gravitate, 
Contra pneuma sacrum peccat spreta 82 . 
Quae primae quinque culpae vix sunt relevatae* 
Sexta caret venia, quia corruit immediate. 

Epitaph on Beatrix duchess of Tuscany, at Pisa., 
in 1076: 

Quamvis peccatrix — sum Donna vocata Beatrix, 
In tumulo missa — -jaceo quae Comitissa. 

Another on Lanfranc archbishop of Canterbury, 
composed by his successor Anselm, about 1089, is 
long, and begins thus : 

Archiepiscopi non divitias, nee honores, 
Lanfrancus subiit, sed curas, atque labores. 
Natus in Italia, Papiensi de regione, 
Civibus egregiis, et honesta conditione, k. r. \. 

Willeramus was a Benedictine monk, educated at 
* 2 So printed, but evidently wrong, perhaps for desperate. 



62 



ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 



Paris, afterwards abbot of Ebersperg in Bavaria, 
who died in ] 085, wrote a paraphrase of Solomons 
Song in Latin rhyme, and another in prose in the 
old Francic dialect : 

Quern sitio votis — nunc oscula porrigit oris. 
Quern mihi venturum — promeserunt organa vatum 
Nunc etiam per se — prsesens dignatur adesse, 
Oscula prsebendo — sua dulcia verba loquendo. 
Ubera nempe tui— prsecellunt pocula vini, 
Suaviter unguentis — fragrantia sat preciosis. 



VOX CHRISTI. 

Flos ego sum campi — sed lilium amabile valli, 
Flos ego virgineus — parvisque parentibus ortus. 
Gloria sum mundi — velut flos gloria campi, 
Semper amans mentes — nullo turgore tumentes. 
Lilium ut ex densis — emergit nobile spinis, 
Sic tua faemineum — praecellit gloria caetum. 
Sic tibi vivendum, — sic censes esse cavendum, 
Neu tibi candorem — sed et virtutis odorem, 
Nequam vicini — deperdant ut inimici 82 . 

Epitaph on William the conqueror at Caen in 
1087: 

S2 Scliilter's Thesaurus, torn. i. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 63 

Qui rexit rigidos — Normannos, atque Britannos 

Audacter vieit, — fortiter obtinuit, 
Et Cenomanenses — virtute contudit enses, 

Imperiique sui — legibus applicavit, 
Rex magnus parva — jacethic Gulielmus in urna : 

Sufficit et magno — parva domus domino. 
Se septem gradibus — se volverat atque duobus 

Virginis ingraemio — Phcebus, ethic obiit.» 



Leonine verse seems to have particularly flour- 
ished in the eleventh century. I shall now intro- 
duce one of the most fertile and best poets in that 
species of composition, Raginald, an Englishman, 
who was a monk of the order of Saint Benedict, in 
the Augustine monastery at Canterbury. He lived 
in the reign of William the conqueror, and was a 
contemporary of archbishop Anselm, to whom he has 
addressed some pieces ; and he lived till the year 
1122 83 . In the Bodleian Library is a manuscript of 
his works, containing about five thousand three hun- 
dred and forty lines 84 . The first and principal poem 
is the life of Saint Malchus, in six books, containing 
three thousand three hundred and ninety lines. The 



83 Pitseus, Hist. Lit. de la France, torn. x. etc. 

84 Bib. Bodl. Laud. 40 ; at the bottom of the first page is 
written, Liber de Claustro Roffens. per Leonardum Monachum, 



64 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

4 rest of the book is occupied by miscellaneous poems, 
many of them relating to the preceding work, to the 
amount of one thousand nine hundred and fifty lines. 
Of the principal poem I shall give an account at 
some length. 

The materials were supplied by a short life of 
Malchus, falsely attributed to Saint Jerome, and to 
be found in his works. The sum of his story is this : 
Malchus was a hermit of the fourth century, of Nis- 
ibis in Mesopotamia 85 . The devil tempted him to 
leave his cell to see the world. In his way to Edessa 
he was taken by the Saracens, and made a captive. 
His master, by a refinement in cruelty, forced him 
to marry a fellow captive, a married woman, whose 
husband had been assigned to another master. They 
lived together in a state of pure continence, and at 
length took an opportunity to run away. The 
master pursued, and was slain by a lion. They 
arrived safe at a Roman army; Malchus retired to 
Chalcis, and his wife to another retreat. This his- 
tory, by the aid of descriptions, amplifications, and 
digressions, Raginaldus has spun out into a long 
poem, in Leonine verse, in which, together with 



85 Hieron. Malchi Vita. Baillet, Vie des Saints, 21 October. 
La Fontaine has given the history in verse. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 65 

some false taste,, such as the strange mixture of pa- 
ganism and Christianity which is found in Dante, 
and which was the fault of his age, he has shown 
much imagination, a great facility of composition, 
classical ideas, and frequently classical poetry. 
He has prefixed a dedication in prose. 

Pr^ludium. 

Baldwino Sancti Andreae Primicerio, fratri et 
Domino, Raginaldus Salutem.— He then salutes in 
order, Dominum Okwinum, Prothopriorem : non- 
num Willielmum Ippopriorem 86 ; nonnum Raginal- 
dum, iEeonomum : nonnum Pauiinum, a secretis : 
nonnum Radbertum, a cameris : nonnum Richardum, 
de Claude Villa : nonnum Aschetil, de quo gaudent 
Angli : nonnum Dunstanum, Minervse filium omnis- 
cium, cseterosque omnes quorum nomina sunt in ccelo, 
corpora adhuc in erofo 87 . 

The poem then begins : 



86 Y7ropriorem. 

87 Of this word I can find no explanation. — It should be terra* 
Is it a corruption of 6po(pog, a roof or covering, and may mean 
under the covering of the earth 1 The writers of the middle ages 
were fond of showing the little Greek they knew, and applied it 
often in a very corrupt form. 

F 



66 



ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 



INCIPIT PR/ELUDIUM RAGINALDI SUPER 
MALCHUM. 



Praelia gesturus 
Dat pugnae similes 

Hostis cernatur ; 
Currit, maturat, 

Arma legit, naves, 
Lite furit grata, 

Hie tegit, hie demum 
Pugnanti similis, 

Hie docet, hie discit, 
Hie natat, hie nantem 

Sic fit, et hoc agitur, 
Miles ut agnoscat 

Illo marte vago 
Fertur in arma citus, 



pelago navalia miles 
ludos prius, et, quasi durus 

belli simulacra figurat : 
secum pugnando jocatur, 

socios, et classe parata, 
per aquas navigando suaves. 

fert scuta rotantia pilis, 
sic discit flectere remum. 

fugat hie, fugit ille fugantem, 
capit,undafretumque dehiscit. 

ad pugna cruenta reposcat, 
ad ea siquando venitur. 

fit eques bellare peritus, 
petit hastam, cessat imago. 



Malchum, prseludere cogor. 
K. t. X. 



Sic ego scripturus 

He then enters upon his subject. — Being an only 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 67 

son, his parents enjoin Malchus to marry ; he refuses, 
and assigns his reasons : 

Plenum sorde thorum subeam plenumquedolorum? 

Plenus, ait, tenebris thalamus sordet muliebris. 

Displicet amplexus, horror mihi copula, sexus. 

Conjugium vile, vilescit sponsa, cubile. 

Nolo thorum talem, desidero spiritualem. 

His dictis flentum franguntur dicta parentum. 

He flies from his parents, and becomes a monk. 
Through the temptation of the devil he leaves his 
cloister to go home. In an hermitage, with many 
others, he is taken by the Saracens, who divide the 
prey amongst them. 

The second book describes at great length the 
games which were celebrated in honour of the cap- 
tures. They are borrowed from the Grecian and 
Roman games, and consisted of the caestus, boxing, 
slinging, races, and quoits. 

He was employed in keeping sheep, and obtained 
great approbation for his conduct. His master re- 
solves to marry him to Malcha, a fellow captive, 
who had a husband, from whom she was separated 
by his being under another master. Upon this pro- 
posal Malchus thus addresses his master : 

O mihi Majestas Domini, grandisque potestas, 

Semper adoranda, veneranda, colenda, pavenda, 

f2 



ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 



Cur mihi sic loqueris, 
Non licet. Attende. 
Sperno tuum jussum 
Copula, nullius coitus, 
Esse nefas remur, 
Ergo subire thorum 
Conjugis alterius 
Pro quid ais, here mi, 
Quando meam gentem 
Et patriam liqui, 
Cur me vis iterum 
Cur thalamum memores, 
Justiciam lsedit 
Tangere nemo picem 
Alteriusque viri 
Non ero scortator, 
Concubitus scorti 



me nubere quomodo quaeris? 
Monaclius sum, vir metuende. 
nequaquam, sed Monachus 
coitus, est ordinishuj us. [sum. 
ne per coitum maculemur. 
non ordinis est monachorum. 
conjunx ero conjugis hujus? 
semel hac me sorte redemi, 
fugiens, luctumque parentum, 
coitus damnator iniqui. 
thalamo jungi mulierum ? 
me nubere curve labores ? 
meretrici quisquis adhaesit. 
nitide valet aut meritricem. 
conjunx non debet adiri. 
nee adulter, nee violator, 
res est obnoxia morti. 



His master threatens to kill him, upon which he 
consents, and retires with his new wife to a cave. 

The third book opens with a description of the 
cave, and prosecutes the history of the unpolluted 
marriage : 



Cella fuit talis, 
Intrant nupturi, 
Quam quia nosse cupis, 
In piano stabat, 
Hupes sublimis 
Esse putat numen 



quam Malchus, virgo jugalis, 
lectoque pari cubituri. 
scopulus (sic accipe) rupis 
fons ab radice meabat. 
caput attollebat ab imis. 
plebs ejus stulta cacumen. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 



69 



Campus earn mollis, 
A pede fundatam, 
Semper casuram, 
Haec quoque virgultis 

Hac sub rupe, specus 
Antrum semirutum, 
Solis inaccessum 
Quae tamen irrorat 
Janua cistunae, 
Sed te ludifico, 
Cardo, fores, aditus, 
Postes petra dabat, 
Intrantique tamen 
At nequeas tecto 
Ni quadrupes ibis 
Hunc aditum tetrae 
Claudere, nee fures 

Haec est forma foris, 
(Si mens non desit) 
Dicere sed quae sit 



disjectam vertice collis, 
sustentat, habetque locatam. 
semperque putas ruituram, 
circunditur undique multis. 
fuit olim lumine caecus. 
vastum, penetrabile, mutum, 
radiis, caligine pressunu 
loca fons, sol ilia vaporat. 
vix hoc rubet igne lucernae. 
lapidem cum janua dico. 
lapis est non arte politus. 
sibi quos natura creabat. 
dabat arctum petra foramen, 
te sistere, corpore recto; 
non hac irrumpere quibis. 
parva potes obice petrae 
tunc magni pendere cures, 
fabricae nunc interioris, 
dicam tibi gloria quae sit : 
nequeo, cum gloria desit. 



He then describes by negatives the misery of the 
cave, and proceeds to the wretchedness of the mar- 
riage, destitute of all decent ceremonies, and conso- 
lation : 



Nee thorus auleis 
Fax ibi nulla micat, 
Non fuit Presbiteri, 
Quo lex more ptitat, 



obvolvituf, aut conopeis. 
nee eos est qui benedicat. 
neque sacri gloria cleri, 
neque sponsam papa salutat> 



70 



ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 



Conjugii ritus, 
Non adolent ibi thus, 
Nee thalamum girant, 
Non ibi matronae 
Non muliebre bonum 

Proh thorus invisus ! 
Uilos ambo dabant, 
Dorsis ad dorsum 
Sed neuter prodit 
Et detestatur, 
Dissidet ut tigris 
Strix cervique mali 
Miluus et columbes, 
Cum sue delphini 
Ut Judea crucem, 
Ut capra eurtellum, 
Diligit, intantum 
Ardet et in nullis 
Mavult quisque mori 
Est quasi stercus hymen, 
Annulus, arrha, faces, 
Faetor, et horrori, 



neque fumum reddit ibi thus, 
vel sponsa, vel maritus. * 
nee odorem cinnama spirant, 
sua cingunt ubera zonae, 
secura libido spadonum. 
Non voces, oscula, risus 
plorantibus ora rigabant. 
versis, fletuterque seorsum. 
se, sed net, et horret, et odit, 
licet id neuter fateatur. 
bobus, contraria pigris. 
coeunt, sic lege jugali 
ut amant commune palumbes, 
coeunt miscere marini : 
furcam latro, noctua lucem, 
ferulam puer, agna flagellum, 
coit horum velle jugantum. 
ipsorum flamma medullis : 
quam turpi cedat amori 
stola, fex, connubia crimen, 
genius, spondaeque capaces 
fuit illis atque dolori. 



These are followed by many other similes. In 
his distress Malchus prays to Christ for relief, and 
declares he would prefer any evil before consumma- 
tion. His prayer consists of above sixty lines, all 
beginning with ante: 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 



71 



Ante mori dones 
Ante crucem, furcas, 
Ante lepram, febres, 
Ante volo phrenesim 
Ante cadam spasmo, 
Ante loqui perdam, 
Ante fimo volvar, 
Ante pudenda tumor 



per amaros captus agones, 
quam res committere spurcas, 
quam concubitus muliebres, 
quam servus luxurise sim. 
nulloque juver cataplasmo, 
sapiant mea pocula merdam, 
quam cum muliere resolvar 
solvat, quam sic fluat humor. 



His temptation increases, and his virtue begins to 
be in danger, he remonstrates with Venus and Satan, 
and again addresses Christ : 



Sed caro titillat, 
Bland itur menti 
Excitat illecebris 
Lubrica mens titubat 
Mille modis stimulor, 
Quid sibi vult horum 
Phi Venus immunda, 
Res agis obsceenas, 
O ex lacu tristi 
I, petito manes, 
Irrita tela geris, 
Eheu quid faciam ? 
Gratia nunc gratis 
Non ita perdetur, 
Castus malo mori 
Obsecro, Christe, rogo, 
In actum Veneris 



mens ante pudica vacillat, 
luculenta libido faventi, 
mentem Venus impia crebris. 
prsesens ut faemina nubat. 
non falsa loquor, nee adulor. 
suggesti demonorum ? 
phi probrum, phi pudibunda, 
tibi prsemia, sed mihi psenas. 
cur Christicoiam petiisti ? 
laqueos innectis inanes ; 
laquens laqueo capieris. 
msechusne per hssc stupra 
perdetur virginitatis ? [nam ? 
sanguis prius elicietur. 
quam sic servire pudori. 
volo, supplico, flagito, cogo, 
me labi non patieris. 



72 



ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 



In the agony of his mind he prepares to kill him- 
self; Malcha endeavours to dissuade him; a long 
conversation ensues, and at length they agree to be 
married spiritually, and this Platonic union takes 
place : 

null his conscia sordis, 
sancto thoro potiuntur. 
Christus, castosque sacravit. 
sibi, non Venus autHymeneus. 
ferus urit corda, Cupido 
ubi nee mens, nee caro, prurit. 
tarn sancto, tarn sociali, 
non horret vivere Malchus. 



Copula sic cordis, 
Nubunt, nubuntur, 
Hos sibi signavit 
Signat corda Dominus 
Non arcu Cupido 
Non ibi comburit, 
Conjugio tali, 
Cum Monacha Monachus 



Notwithstanding the purity of their connexion, he 
feels that there is some danger in it : 



Ssepe jacet ventus, 
Aura vehit lenis, 
iEquore sed multo 
Quatit, et invertit 
Mergitur et navis, 
Res tandem blandse 



dormit sopita juventus : 
natat undis cymba serenis ; 
Nereus, custode sepulto, 
navem, dum navita stertit 
quamvis vehat aura suavis. 
sunt mortis causa nefandre. 



So, for fear of accidents, he forms some prudential 
resolutions : 



Est sibi suspects 
Non credit lecto, 
Nee fricat attactu 



mulieris pars sibi lectus, 
non credit denique tecto : 
carnem caro feda vel actu. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. ^3 

In book the fourth, having observed the ants and 
the bees, he recollects Solomon, and sighs to return 
to his monastery. He resolves to make his escape 
with Malcha, begins his preparations, kills goats, 
and of their skins makes a sort of bladders, to enable 
him to pass rivers. All this work was performed in 
the secret hours of the night, of which he gives a 
description, not unclassical : 

Occupat hie mundum nox, Malchi vota secundum,, 

Apta suo vottv radiis et sole remoto. 

Nox erat, et rebus mundi sua lumina Phoebus 

Dempserat, in fluctus, Thetidisgremiumquereductus. 

Jamque tenus collo caput in mare pulcher Apollo 

Merserat, hicque Thetis sub aquosa regna quietis 

Excipit : exceptum Neptunus et sequore septum 

Deducit pelago, pelagi ne tetra vorago 

Obruat admissum, dum vadit et intrat abyssum. 

Phoebus is then met by Thetis, Neptune, Triton, 
and the other gods of the sea, and conducted to the 
palace of old father Oceanus. — An account is given 
of all these deities, and the palace is described, with 
all its wonders. Here dwelt Wisdom with her chil- 
dren, the arts and sciences, particularly ethics, phy- 
sics, and logic, the nine muses, Hercules, and many 
other allegorical and pagan divinities. In this very 
long episode the poet seems to have embodied all his 



74 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

learning, and frequently changes the metre — as in 
the description of the palace of Oceanus : 

1. Ampla palatia, 2. Promere gestio, 

Quae sapientia Cserula mansio, 

condecoravit : cum sit aquosa, 

Et locupletibus Quam sit amabilis, 

Exculta artibus Et recitabulis, 

edificavit, et numerosa. 

3. Regia nobilis, 4. Copia nullius 

Arte notabilis, Est potis ipsius, 

et sine mole, omnia sacra. 

Non habitabilis, Edere versibus, 

Impenetrabilis, Aut rationibus, 

et sine sole. Et simulacra. 

These digressions being concluded,, the author re- 
turns to his history. Malchus and Malcha fly in the 
night ; a prayer is offered up for their safety ; they 
escape and pass a river. 

In book thejifth, Malchus's master being skilled 
in magic and . astrology consults the stars. Having 
there discovered the flight of his captives, he is vio- 
lently enraged, and sets out in pursuit of them, with 
a servant. They are discovered in a cave : the ser- 
vant enters it, and is slain by a lioness ; the master 
follows, and meets with the same fate. The lioness, 
having performed her duty, departs with her cubs. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. "5 

They quit the cave, sing a long hymn, and return to 
their own country. Malchus makes a garden, plants 
a vineyard and a shrubbery — 

In the sixth book, Malchus in his retreat composes 
a hymn,, which is given at length. In an address to 
God the father, he recites all his proceedings through- 
out the Old and the New Testaments,, in tristicons or 
triads; then he celebrates the Son and the Holy 
Ghost in tetrastics, and concludes with a prayer to 
the Virgin, and all the saints by name. He addresses 
his guardian angel in quaternions, beginning : 

Angele, qui nobis es custos, pietate supernal 
Me tibi commissum serva, tueare, guberna. 
Terge meam vitam vitiis, et labe veterna, 
Assiduusque comes mihi sis, vitseque lucerna. 

His active and contemplative life is then described. 
The praises of Saint Jerome are sung, who pays them 
a visit. Malchus relates his life and adventures to 
him ; and the poem concludes with these two lines : 

Currendi finis, — quadrigis -sive carinis 
Nostris, hoc igitur — pentametro dabitur. 

Many poems follow, which, though detached from 
the principal poem, bear relation to it, and serve as 



76 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

a sort of epilogue. They are in various metres, and 
osme of them he styles versus reciproce Leoninicenses, 
or versus dicaces: versus cristati, cornuti, trilices, 
pentametri, paragorici, and inversi. He seems to 
have been familiar with some of the classical poets, 
and has given the rules of the Sapphic metre, in 
Sapphic verse : 

Discat Osbertius, studio frequenti, 
Regulas certas Sapphici tenoris : 
Quas potest nemo nisi per laborer^ 

Discere jugem. 
Discat hoc, inquam, varii metrorum 
Qualiter currant numeri modique : 
Discat, et nunquam sibi nomen artis 

Arroget ante. 
Nolo te longe pedibus vagari, 
Nee per anfractus ago te viarum : 
Nee laborandum tibi dico multum— 

Quod petis hie est 

Te penes Flacci liber est Horati : 
Prima " Maecenas" stat tibi legenda, 
" Jam satis terris/' legitur secunda 

Carminis oda. 

Has duas odas alise sequuntur, 
Laude metrorum celebres et alma, 
In quibus formas poteris videre 

Carminis omnes. k. r. X. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 77 

Two following poems of Raginaldus deserve more 
attention, as relating to the poet himself. 

The first is a poem in honour of his patron, en- 
titled, Domino suo Americo Fagiensi — Raginaldus— 

Quid prius incipiam ? Celabo viri probitatem ? 
Transeo militiam, genus altum, nobilitatem? 

Nonne domum claram 

Loquor, et famam super astra, 
Culmen, opes, charam 

Sobolem, tutissima castra. — 

He proceeds to give him good advice in twenty 
stanzas — all beginning with mandat : 

Mandat amare Deum, 

Monachos, caelestia, clerum, 
Nee damnare reum, 

Nee captet inania rerum. 

But the poem upon Aimeric's castle at Fagia, is 
more interesting, as it contains a lively description of 
the splendid abodes and manners of the feudal times. 

AD FAGIAM CASTELLUM SUUM. 

Fagia castelium, 

Salve, cum fiore baronum, 
Guerra, fames, bellum, 

Procul a te, fios regionum. 



78 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Fagia, sol stellis 

Est clarior omnibus, igne, 
Sic tu castellis 

Aliis prseponere digne 88 . 

Fagia celsior es 

Blesis, Praeneste, Micenis, 
Non etiam minor es 

Treveris, megalais nee Athenis 89 . 

Fagia, dulce solum 
Rus nobile, villa Celebris, 

Te veneror solum, 

Te laudibus effero crebris. 

Fagia, castrensis 

Locus, et gens ampla virorum, 
Hostibus infensis 

Prostes, decus omne tuorum, 

Fagia, lux regni, 

Sedes et curia dives, 
Cum duce non segni 

Victrix per secula vives. 



88 The classical reader will recollect Pindar's first ode. 

89 I suppose Blois, Prseneste, Messene, Triers, and Athens. 
Migalo I have altered meojure to megalais. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE , 79 

Fagia, quod vivis, 

Vel quod superas inimicum, 
Scire potest quivis 

Quia cuncta per Aimericum, 

Fagia, magna facis 

Sub principe, sub duce tali, 
Causa tuse pacis 

Vir hie est, scuto generali. 

Fagia, publica res, 

Equitum virtus populosa, 
Teque tuosque lares 

Laus usque manet preciosa. 

Fagia, terra ferax, 

Validis circumdata muris, 
Judicii verax, 

Succincti clausula juris. 

Fagia, frumenti 

Felix humus, apta Falerno, 
Commodus armenti, 

Locus aere grata superno. 

Fagia, grande forum, 

Recipis venalia quseque, 
Colligis armorum, 

Locuples juventa fideque. 



80 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Fagia, cespitibus 

Vivis tellus co-operta, 

Pabula des gregibus, 
Per prata virore referta. 

Fagia, regalis 

Pagus, dominis dominabus 
Patria legalis, 

Dives famulis famulabus. 

Fagia, causidicis 

Tua presonat aula frequenter. 
Atria grammaticis 

Fiuntque canora valenter. 

Fagia, rethoribus 

Clamosis es reverenda, 

Eque militibus 

Caleatis es metuenda. 



Fagia, postpono 

Quod multis causa fuisti 
Mortis, et ense bono 

Terras animamque tulisti. 

Fagia, prsctereo 

Quse sic tua gloria terrae 
Dicere, nam nequeo 

Prseconio tanta referre. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE, 81 

Fagia, cur dicam 

Quod per tua strenua facta, 
Et vim mirificam, 

Cernis loca multa subacta. 

Fagia, si loquerer 

Linguis, et millia nossem 
Plectra, prius morerer 

Quam singula scribere possem. 

Fagia, dum calidis 

Sol curribus occidet undis 
Cerulese Thetidis, 

Hastes mucrone retundis. 



Fagia, donee aper 

Silvas, et flumina piscis, 
Et virgulta caper 

Ilepetunt, tu crescere discis. 

Fagia, donee apes 

Orchisium, juvenemque puella, 
Esuriensque dapes 

Amat, ardens vincere bella. 

Fagia, dum vivam, 

Te laudo meam genitivam 
Terrain, dum fuero, 

Grates tibi solvere quaero, 



82 ESSAY ON TEE HISTORY OF 

Fagia, favisti, 
Genuisti, perdocuisti 
Olim me puerum 
Falso discernere verum. 

Fagia, vive, vale, 
Nostrum tibi sic speciale 
Carmen, et has apices, 
Raginaldi nomine dices. 

Fagia, sic facies, 
Si famuli carmine gaudes : 
Scripta suscipies, 
Famuli de te tibi laudes. 



The celebrated poem the Schola Salerni, or Regi- 
men Sanitatis Salernitanum, is to be referred to the 
end of the eleventh century. It was written by the 
learned doctors of Salerno, and contains rules for the 
preservation of health, and the prevention of disease, 
composed for the use of Robert of Normandy, son of 
William the conqueror, to whom it is dedicated. 
No poem was more popular in the middle ages, and 
many of its precepts are frequently quoted even to 
this day; but it is too long for insertion here, and a 
new edition of it, with a copious introduction and 
notes, is prepared for the press. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 83 



The Twelfth Century. 

In days of gross darkness and superstition, Hilde- 
bert could see and reprove the vices and ignorance 
of his contemporaries, even of the highest rank in 
the church. He was a Cluniacensian monk, and a 
disciple of the celebrated Berengarius. About the 
year 1107^ having been persecuted by Henry the first, 
king of England, he retired to Rome, that he might 
be protected by Pascal the second. Upon his return 
he was imprisoned, and refused to undergo the ordeal 
by fire to prove his innocence of the charges brought 
against him. In 1097 he was consecrated bishop 
of Mans, and about 1130, archbishop of Tours. His 
death is fixed about 1136. He was a man of genius 
and learning, a philosopher, a poet, and a divine; 
and his works were numerous. Poems on the 
praises of Zosimus, the life of Saint Mary the 
^Egyptian, in Leonine verse, on the Mass, on Rome, 
on the Creation, or work of six days, an Epitaph 
on Berengarius, and one hundred and forty-eight 
Cantilenae, or Songs, on the corrupt state of the 
Romish Church and other subjects, have been attri- 
buted to him 90 . 

90 Fabritius, Leyser, Tanner. Bibl. Cave, etc. 



84 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

CANTILENA IN ANTICHRISTUM, ET SPI- 
RITUALES FILIOS EJUS 91 . 

Deduc, Sion, uberrimas, 
Velut torrentem, lacrimas : 
Namque pro tuis patribus 
Nati sunt tibi filii, 
Quorum dedisti manibus, 
Tui sceptrum imperii. 
Fures et furum socii, 
Turbato rerum ordine, 
Abutuntur regimine 
Pastoralis officii. 
Ad corpus infirmitas 
Capitis descendit, 
Singulosque gravitas 
Artus apprehendit. 
Vide, Deus ultionum, 
Vide, videns omnia, 
Quod spelunca vespillonum 
Facta est Ecclesia : 
Quod in templum Solomonis 
Venit princeps Babylonis. 

There is attributed to him a humorous poem on the 
clergy's being commanded to dismiss their wives and 
concubines by Calixtus the second 92 . In a chapter 

91 Mat. Flacii Poemata. Leyser, p. 386. 

92 Distinc. 27. c. 8. Presbyteris. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 



85 



held to debate the question, twenty of the clergy suc- 
cessively deliver their sentiments : 

Clems et presbyteri nuper consedere 
Tristes in capitulo simul, et dixere. 
Nostras vult ancillulas Prsesul removere, 
Quid debemus super hoc ergo respondere ? — 

The last speaker amongst other things says, 

Coram tota curia Papa declaravit 
Sacerdotem, qui hie et haec et hoc declinavit : 
Omnem generantem excommunicavit, 
Ex sorore filium ipse procreavit 92 . 

Wippo, chaplain to the emperors Conrad the Salic, 
and his son Henry the third, who reigned from 1124 
to 1156, wrote a book of Proverbs in one hundred 
and forty-eight lines, of which this is the commence- 
ment : 



INCIPIT INVENTUM— REFERENS PROVERBIA 
CENTUM. 

Decet Regem 
Discere legem. 
Audiat Rex 
Quod praecipit lex. 

92 Mat. Flacii Poemata. Leyser, p. 371. 



86 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Legem servare 
Hoc est regnare. 
Notitia librorum 
Lux est animorum. 
Ssepius offendit 
Qui lumen non attendit. 
Qui habet scientiam 
Ornat sententiam. 
Melior est sapientia 
Quam ssecularis potentia 93 . 

We arrive now at a poet from whose celebrity this 
style of verse derived its name ; it is unnecessary to 
confute the notion that he was the inventor of it. 
Leoninus, or, as he is styled in some manuscripts, 
Leonius, was first a canon of the order of Saint 
Benedict at Paris, afterwards a monk of Saint Vic- 
tor's monastery at Marseilles. He composed twelve 
books in heroic verse of the History of the Bible, and 
other poems, with considerable purity and elegance, 
without rhyme. This he afterwards adopted; and 
his rhyming verse met with such approbation that 
he continued to write in that manner 94 . 

Having asked a favour, for the benefit of his 
church of Saint Benoit, of Nicholas Breakspear when 

93 Fabrit. Bibl. Med. Lat. vol. 1. in fine. 

94 Pasquier, Recherches de la France, Paris, 1621. Lib. 7. 
ch. 2. p. 596. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 87 

a cardinal,, upon his being elected pope the promise 
was forgotten. Upon which he addressed him in a 
poem of forty-two verses : 

Papa, meas, Adriane, preces, si postulo digna, 
Suscipe tarn vultu placido, quam mente benigna. 
Non novitatis amor hue me tulit, aut levitatis 
Impetus, aut etiam propria? spes utilitatis. 
Non peto preebendas, nee honores ecclesiarum, 
Suntque modesta precum, sunt et pia, vota mearum. 
Pauperis ecclesiae, cujus pro jure laboro, 
Justus ut es, memor esse velis, nihil amplius oro. 

The cardinal of Saint Mark, afterwards Alexander 
the third, became his advocate in this affair, and ob- 
tained his petition. When he was elected to the 
popedom, Leoninus thanked him in a poem in which 
the same rhyme was continued through many lines : 

Summe parens hominum, Christi devote minister, 
Pastorum pastor, preeceptorumque magister : 
Quern rigor, et pietas, quern nota fama pudoris, 
Et lucis calcatus amor, pars magna valoris, 
Cseteraque ut taceam, dos maxima mentis et oris, 
Invitum ad summum traxerunt eulmen honoris. 
Quas tibi me laudes non ficto pectore noris, 
Nee male quserendi studio cecinisse favoris. 
Nam nisi me justi cohiberent fraena timoris, 
Ne qua verecundi fierent tibi causa ruboris, 



88 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Altius aggrederer opus, et lims gravioris, 
Laudibus ire tui per singula membra nitoris. 
Nee bene decerpti libamen sumere floris, 
Sed sanare omnes gustu tarn suavis odoris : 
Si lieet ingenium mihi venae pauperioris. 



This rhyme in oris continues for thirty lines more, 
then other rhymes commence, and are followed in 
the same manner. 

In the reigns of Stephen and Henry the second 
lived Heiiry of Huntingdon the historian, who was 
likewise a voluminous poet. He wrote eight books 
of epigrams, and as many upon love ; and he added 
two books upon aromatics and gems, and another upon 
weights and measures to the fictitious Macer, inferior 
however to that author. Some of his poetry is not 
inelegant, and in general without rhyme; but the 
following upon England is in rhymed hexameters 
and pentameters. 

Anglia terrarum — decus, et flos finitimarum, 

Est contenta sui- — fertilitate boni, 
Externos gentes, — consumptis rebus, egentes, 

Cum fames laedit — recreat et reficit. 
Commoda terra satis — mirandae fertilitatis, 

Prosperitate viget — cum bona pacis habet 95 . 

95 Camden's Remains, p. 7. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. W 

The crusades afforded noble subjects for prose and 
verse. Two rhyming poets, Fulk and Gilon, have 
given the history of the first crusade 96 . A poem, in 
quatrains, of nine hundred lines, on the recovery 
of Ptolemais or Acre, by Monachus Florentinus, 
bishop of that place, and who was present at the 
siege which he describes, is of course too long for in- 
sertion here ; and I shall therefore merely select what 
relates to our heroic countryman Richard Cceur de 
Lion. 

He mentions the date of the capture, July 12th, 
1191: 

A natali Domini mille ducentorum, 
Novem minus, spacium defluxerat annorum, 
Accon fere circulis obsessa duorum, 
Idus quarto Julii, redditur annorum. 

DE REGE ANGLIiE DIVERTENTE CYPRUM, 
EAMQUE SUBJUGANTE. 

Interim Rex Angliee inclytus Richardus, 
Qui per famam redolet ut odore nardus, 

96 Fulk's poem in three books ends at the siege of Nice. It 
is printed in Du Chesne's Collection of the Historians of France, 
torn. iii. Gilon begins from thence and finishes with the coro- 
nation of Godfrey. It is imperfect in Du Chesne, but more 
perfect in six books, in Martene and Durand's Thes. Anecd. 
torn, 3. 



90 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 

Metuendus hostibus, sicut feris pardus, 
Cyprum turn venerat, licet suis tardus. 

Nam tyrannus insulse, turba pietatis, 
Tribus ibi navibus regis naufragatis, 
Homines incluserat, navibus ligatis, 
Equis, victualibus, armis, usurpatis. 

Sed a Rege reddere cuncta postulate, 
Negat, pugnat, vincitur, fugit, vinculatur, 
Digna factis ultio digne compensatur : 
Captivator hominum modo captivatur. 

Victis castris, urbibus Cypri subjugatis, 
Plene faveant Regi ? addendaque satis 
Cogitent calcaria mundum. Ergo datis 
Ventis, intrat pelagus fluctibus iratis. 



DE QUAD AM NAVI TURCORUM ONERATA IGNE 
GRiECO, ET ARMIS, VOLENTE INTRARE CI- 
VITATEM, QUAM ITA EXPUGNAVIT REX 
ANGLIiE, QUOD TOTA PENITUS SUBMERSA 
EST, CUM OMNIBUS IN EA CONTENTIS. 

Dum Acconem satagit iter maturare, 
Navi magnse molis contigit obviare, 
Quam Acconem comperit Rex velle intrare, 
Et Turcis prsesidia maxima portare. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE 91 

Ad hanc ergo galeae cunctse congregantur, 
Sonant tubae, classica, tympana pulsantur^ 
Exeruntur gladii, arcus sinuantur, 
Ad instar grandinis spicula vibrantur. 

At Turci de caveis, ut de castro forti, 
Ictu nostros lapidis ut tormentis torti, 
Sudibus, et jaculis, tribuentes morti, 
Metum nostrse maximum ingerunt cohorti. 

Sed per vocem regiam sese resumentes, 
Turcas vexant acrius supereminentes, 
Jaculorum verubus caveis figentes. 
Nostros tamen reprimunt igne perfundentes. 

Et dum navis rumpjtur rostris galearum, 
Ignis, sudes, jacula, profuere parum. 
Nam dum illos sorbuit puteus aquarum, 
Esca fuerunt volucrum atque belluarum. 

Armis potentissimi periere mille, 
Quod si forte recepissent mcenia villae, 
Nunquam hos devinceret iste Rex vel ille, 
Nee currens Graecia tota cum Achille. 



QUOMODO REX ANGLIC VENIT ACCONEM. 

Versus igitur Accon malus incurvatur, 
Oculis navigium aequora furatur, 
Christianus populus gaudens gratulatur, 
Et confisus Ethnicus dolet et turbatur. 



92 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

By the treaty upon the surrender of the city, Saladin 
had engaged to restore the wood of the holy cross, 
and gave hostages to that effect. Upon his nonper- 
formance of the conditions, Richard put the hostages 
to death : 

Coram tabernaculis igitur Turcorum, 
Jugulari corpora clarus Rex Anglonim, 
Plusquam tria millia jubet captivorum, 
Pro reddenda vadium cruce relictorum 97 . 

Dr. Nares, in his Memoirs of Lord Burghley, has 
introduced what he styles a prayer to Saint George, 
and as such it is printed, without any distinction of 
lines 98 . But it is in reality a hymn, in rhyming 
Latin, and should be thus arranged. I have intro- 
duced it here, as relating to the great saint of the 
crusade and of England, the date of its composition 
not being known. 

97 Monachi Florentini Acconensis Episcopi de Recuperate 
Ptolemaide Liber, inserted in Heroldi de Bello Sacro Continu- 
atae Historiae libri sex, commentariis Gulielmi Tyrensis additi. 
Basil, 1560. p. 225, etc. 

98 Vol. i. page 435. from the Horae beatissimae Virginis Mariae 
ad usum Sarum, Paris, 1520. By examining the original, 
fol. Ixxxiii. I have corrected some errors, and added the four 
last lines. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 93 

Georgi, martyr indite, 

Te decet laus et gloria, 

Praedotatum militia : 

Per quern puella regia, 

Existens in tristitia, 

Coram dracone pessimo 

Salvata est et animo : 

Te rogamus corde intimo : 

Ut cum cunctis fidelibus 

Coeli jungamur civibus, 

Nostris ablutis sordibus. 

Ut simul cum lsetitia 

Tecum simus in gloria, 

Nostraque reddant labia 

Laudes Christo cum gratia. 

Ora pro nobis, 

Georgi, Christi miles, 

Ut hostes visibiles et invisibiles 

Sint contra nos valde debiles. 

Though a more elegant and classical style of com- 
position was adopted by some superior scholars in 
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, rhyme was em- 
ployed by our countryman Walter de Mapes with 
singular humour and felicity. This poet was chap- 
lain to king Henry the second, successively canon 
of Salisbury, prsecentor of Lincoln, archdeacon of 
Oxford in 1197, and afterwards prebendary of 
Saint Paul's. In a journey to Rome he saw the 



94 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

corruptions of the papal court, and the dissolute live& 
of the monks and clergy, whom he censured with 
unsparing wit ; and most of his works are severe sa- 
tires upon popes, cardinals, bishops, the regular and 
secular ecclesiastics". It is difficult to ascertain 
many of his works : in some he assumed a feigned 
name, some undoubtedly written by him have been 
attributed to other writers, and other poems have 
been assigned to him to which he had no claim. 
Several pieces under the name of Golias, as Apo- 
calypsis Goliee pontificis, Sermones Golise, have 
usually been supposed to be his; yet Warton and 
others have thought that there was sufficient reason 
to consider Golias as a real name, and a different 
person. James had seen a separate collection of his 
works *. Giraldus Cambrensis was the intimate 
friend of Walter, and acquainted with Golias. He 
speaks of them as different persons, censures Golias 
for his severity against the monks, and quotes a, sati- 
rical epitaph upon him. Yet after all, the internal 
evidence is in favour of Walter's being the real 
author. It is scarcely probable that there should 

99 Gyraldi Cambrensis Ecelesise Speculum. Bale de Illustri- 
bus Britan. Scrip, who has given a catalogue of his works. 
Trithemius. Tanner. Bibl. etc. 

1 MSS. Bodl. James, i. p. 320. Warton, Hist. Poet. vol. iii. 
p. 185. Selden ad Fletam, p. 524. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 95 

have been two men who resembled each other so per- 
fectly in language, style, humour, and enmity to the 
corruptions of the church. Walter de Mapes translated 
from the Latin into French, at the instance of king 
Henry, the popular romance of the Saint Graal, of 
which the original manuscript remains in the British 
Museum 2 . 

Of this facetious writer I shall introduce two 
pieces, the one upon a serious, the other upon a comic, 
subject. 

The first is a dialogue between the body and soul 
of a condemned person after death, disputing as to 
which was the cause of their common dreadful cala- 
mity 3 . It was a popular subject, and there is a 
Saxon poem of the same nature 4 . 

VISIO LAMENTABTLIS DEVOTI CUJUSDAM 
HEREMrm SUPER LUGUBRI DISCEPTA- 
TIONE ANIMiE CONTRA CORPUS. 

Noctis sub silentio, tempore brumali, 
Deditus quodammodo somno spirituali, 
Corpus carens video spiritu vitali : 
De quo mihi visio fuit sub forma tali. 

2 Warton, ibid. 

3 It was printed without date, apparently in the fifteenth cen- 
tury, and exists in manuscript, Harl. 978. 2851. Cotton. Titus. 
A. xx. There are great variations in all the copies. 

4 Conybeare, Archseol. vol. 17. 



96 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 

Dormitando paululum, vigilando fessus, 
Ecce quidam spiritus, noviter egressus 
De praedicto corpore vitiis oppressus, 
Qui carnis cum gemitu sic plangit excessus. 

Juxta corpus spiritus stetit et ploravit, 
Et his verbis acriter carnem increpavit — 
O caro miserrima, quis te sic prostravit, 
Quam mundus tarn subito pridie ditavit ? 

Nonne tibi pridie mundus sequebatur ? 
Nonne te provincia tota verebatur ? 
Qub nunc est familia quee tibi subdebatur ? 
Cauda tua penitus jam nunc amputatur. 

Non es nunc in turribus de lapidibus quadratis, 
Nee nee in palacio magnse largitatis : 
Jaces nunc in feretris parvse quantitatis, 
Deponendum tumulo qui minor est satis. 

Quid valent palacia pulcra, vel quid redes? 
Vix nunc tuus tumulus septem capit pedes. 
Quanquam falso judicans a modo non laedes. 
Per te nobis misera est in inferno sedes. 

The soul goes on to reproach the body with having 
brought them into this miserable situation. — The 
body replies, throwing the blame upon the soul 3 
whose office it was, as the superior lady and mistress,, 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 97 

to restrain and govern the body. The question is 
farther disputed on such grounds, till they -are inter- 
rupted by the demons : 

Postquam tales anima expressisset mcerores, 
Ecce duo daemones pice nigriores : 
Quorum turpitudinem totius scriptores 
Mundi non describerent, nee pingerent pictores. 

Ferreas furcinulas manibus ferentes, 
Ignem et sulphureum per os emittentes, 
Similes ligonibus sunt eorum dentes, 
Et ex eorum naribus procedunt serpentes. 

Sunt eorum oculi ut pelves ardentes^ 
Aures habent patulas sanie fluentes, 
Sunt in suis frontibus cornua gerentes, 
Digitorum ungul-ae ut aprorum dentes. 

Isti cum furcinulis animam sumpserunt, 
Quam mox apud inferos cum impetu traxerunt, 
Quibus et diavoli multi occurrerunt, 
Qui pro tali socio gaudium fecerunt. 

Viscatis corrigiis earn ligaverunt, 
Quidam furcis ferreis ventrem disruperunt 
Quidam cum novaculis acutis sciderunt, 
Quidam plumbum fervidum in earn projecerunt, 

H 



ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 

Quidam os stercoribus suis repleverunt, 
Et in ejus oculos quidam comminxerunt, 
Minutatim etiam ipsam diviserunt, 
Post in stagnum igneum praecipitaverunt. 

Post hsec dicunt demones, quasi fatigati : 
" Hi qui nobis serviunt, et non voluntati 
Divinse obediunt, sic sunt honorati : 
Tu debes in centuplum duriora pati." 

His auditis Anima gemens suspiravit, 
Et voce qu& potuit parum murmuravit. 
Quando verb baratri januas intravit, 
Voce lamentabili et quserula clamavit. 
" Creaturam respice, fill David." 

Tunc clamabant daemones, et dixemnt ei : 
" Tarde nimis invocas nomen tui Dei, 
Non dices de caetero miserere mei, 
Non est ultra veniae spes, nee requiei: 

Lumen non de csetero videbis diei, 
Decor transmutabitur tuae faciei, 
Nostra? sociaberis dehinc aciei, 
Et assimulaberis nostra? speciei. 
Sic sic apud inferos consolentur rei," 

Talia cum videram dormiens expavi, 
Et extra me positus fere vigilavi, 
Et ex expansis manibus ad Deum clamavi, 
Grans ut me proteget a poena tarn gravi. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE, 99 

Mundum cum frivolis suis condemnavi, 
Aurum, gemmas, prgedia, vana reputavi ? 
Rebus transitoriis abrenunciavi, 
Et me Christi manibus commendavi. 

Explicit conflictio inter corpus et animam. 

There is great resemblance between the playful 
cruelties exercised by these demons, and those of 
Dante : 

E Graffiacan, che gli era piu di contra, 
Gli arronciglio le 'mpegolate chiome, 
E trassel su, che mi parve una lontra, 

O Rubicante, fa che tu gli metti 

Gli unghioni addosso si, che tu lo scuoi, 
Gridavan tutti insieme i maladetti. 

E Libicocco, Troppo avem sofferto, 
Disse : e presegli '1 braccio col ronciglio, 
Si che, stracciando, ne porto un lacerto= 

Barbariccia con gli altri suoi dolente, 
Quattro ne fe 7 volar dall' altra costa, 
Con tutti i raffi, ed assai prestamente 

Di qua di la discesero alia posta : 
Poser gli uncini verso gV impaniati, 
Ch' eran gia cotti dentro della crosta 5 

5 Inferno, Cant. xxii. v. 34. 40. 70. 145, 

H 2 



100 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

The next is the celebrated convivial song, which 
has been often printed ; but as it is the best specimen 
of Walter de Mapes's humorous style, I shall again 
introduce it : 



Mihi est propositum in taberna mori, 
Vinum sit appositum morientis ori, 
Ut dicant cum venerint Angelorum chori ? 
" Deus sit propitius huic potatori." 

Poculis accenditur animi lucerna, 
Cor imbutum nectare volat ad superna, 
Mihi sapit dulcius vinum in taberna 
Quam quod aqua miscuit praesulis pincerna. 

Suum cuique proprium dat natura munus. 
Ego nunquam potui scribere jejunus ; 
Me jejunum vincere posset puer unus, 
Sitim et jejunium odi tanquam funus. 

Unicuique proprium dat natura donum 
Ego versus faciens vinum bibo bonum, 
Et quod habent melius dolia cauponum 
Tale vinum generat copiam sermonum. 

Tales versus facio quale vinum bibo ; 
Nihil possum scribere nisi sumpto cibo, 
Nihil valet penitus quod jejunus scribo, 
Nasonem post calices carmine pneibo. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 101 

Mihi nunquam spiritus prophetic datur 
Nisi tunc cum fuerit venter bene satur : 
Cum in arce cerebri Bacchus dominatur, 
In me Phoebus irruit ac miranda fatur 6 . 

The following spirited translation of this Baccha- 
nalian song 'is by Mr. Derby of Fordingbridge in 
Hampshire : 

1. 

I'm resolv'd in a tavern with honour to die r 

At my mouth place a full flowing bowl, 
That angels, while round me they hover, may cry, 

" Peace, O God, peace to this jolly soul !" 



By toping the mind with fresh vigour is fraught, 

The heart too soars up to the skies ; 
Give me wine that's unmixed — not that watery draught 

Which the president's butler supplies .. 



To each man his gift Nature gives to enjoy, 

To pretend to write well is a jest 
When I'm hungry ; I yield, overcome by a boy ; 

And a fast like the grave I detest. 

* Camden's Remains, p. 298- 



102 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

4. 

My verses all taste of the wine that I stow ; 

While I'm "empty my muse is unkind; 
But with bumpers enlivened how sweet does she flow ! 

Fam'd Ovid I leave far behind. 

5. 

Till my belly's well fill'd truths I ne'er can divine ; 

But when Bacchus presides in my pate, 
The strong impulse I feel of the great god of rhyme, 

And wonderful things I relate. 



Festive songs were very common. Here is ano- 
ther specimen 7 : 

Quicunque vult esse frater, 
Bibat bis, ter, et quater : 
Bibat semel, et secundo, 
Donee nihil sit in fundo. 
Bibat hera, bibat herus, 
Ad bibendum nemo serus : 
Bibat iste, bibat ilia, 
Bibat servus cum ancilla. 



7 Petri Andreae Canonherii de admirandis vini virtutibus. Ant- 
werp, 1627, page 501. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE, 103 

Et pro Rege, et pro Papa 
Bibe vinum sine aqua. 
Et pro Papa, et pro Rege, 
Bibe vinum sine lege. 
Hsec una est lex Bacchica, 
Bibentium spes unica. 



His verses when the pope forbade the clergy their 
wives and concubines are witty, but too long for in- 
sertion here. The first and last stanzas are : 

Prisciani regula penitus cassatur 
Sacerdos per Hie et Hsec olim declinatur, 
Sed per Hie solummodo nunc articulator, 
Cum per nostrum Praesulem Haec amoviatur. 

Ecce jam pro clericis multum allegavi, 
Nee non pro presbyteris plura comprobavi : 
Pater Noster nunc pro me, quoniam peccavi, 
Dicat quisque Presbyter cum sua Suavi 8 . 

To show the popularity of such subjects as the 
dispute between the body and the soul, I shall now 
introduce a poem written by an Englishman in the 
time of Henry the third, containing a contest be- 
tween the eye and the heart, in alternate rhyme 9 . 

8 Camden's Remains, p, 501. 9 Ibid, p. 301, 



104 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 

Quisquis Cordis et Oculi 
Non sentit in se jurgia, 

Non novit qui sunt stimuli, 
Quae culpse seminaria, 

Causam nescit periculi, 
Cur alternant convitia, 

Cur procaces et semuli 
Repliunt in se vitia. 

Cor sic affatur Oculum : 
Te peecati principium, 

Te fontem, te stimulum, 
Te mortis voco nuntium. 



Tu domus meae janitor 
Hosti non claudis ostium, 

Familiaris proditor 
Admittis adversarium. 

Nonne fenestra diceris, 

Quam ? mors intrat ad animam : 
Nonne quod vides sequeris 

Ut bos ductus ad victimam ? 

Saltern sordes quas ingeris 
Cur non lavas per lacrimam : 

Aut quare non erueris, 

Mentem fermentans, azymam? 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 105 

Cordi respondit Oculus : 

Injuste de me qusereris, 
Servus sum tibi sedulus, 

Exequor quicquid jusseris* 

Nonne tu mihi praecipis 

Sicut et membris caeteris ? 
Non ego, tu te decipis, 

Nuntius sum quo miseris ? 

Cur damnatur apertio 

Corpori necessaria, 
Sine cujus officio 

Cuncta languent officia ? 

Quo, si fiat ereptio, 

Cum sim fenestra pervia : 
Si quod recepi nuntio, 

Quae putatur injuria? 

Addo quid nullo pulvere 

Quern immitto pollueris, 
Nullum malum te laedere 

Potest, nisi consenseris, 

De corde mala prodeunt, 

Nihil invitum pateris, 
Virtutes non intereunt 

Nisi culpam commiseris. 



]06 ESSAV ON THE HISTORY OF 

Dum sic uterque disputat, 

Soluto pacis osculo, 
Ratio litem amputat 

Definitivo calculo. 

Utrumque reum imputat, 

Sed non pari periculo : 
Nam Cordi causam reputat, 

Occasionem Oculo. 

Muratori has quoted part of a poem of Peter 
Abbet of Clugni 10 , de Resurrectione Domini : 

Lumen clarum 
Tenebrarum 

Sedibus resplenduit, 
Dum salvare 
Recreare 

Quod creavit, voluit. 



Hinc Creator, 
Ne peccator 

Moriretur, moritur. 
Cujus morte, 
Nova sorte, 

Vita nobis nascitur. 



Antiq. Med. j-Ev, Dissert. 40. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 107 

I shall now give some extracts from two very ex- 
traordinary hymns to the Virgin Mary, both equally 
blasphemous in different ways. In the first she is 
deified, and passages of scripture which relate to 
God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are 
applied to her. In the other she is treated as a mere 
earthly female, the beauty of every specific part of 
her body is celebrated, and the love of God towards 
her is converted into an absolute carnal affection. 

The first is from a manuscript in the Cotton library, 
upon parchment in great letters in small quarto, 
and contains forty-two leaves. There are alternately 
a passage from the scriptures and four verses n . 

Et erit tanquam lignum quod plantatum est secus 
decursus aquarum, quod fructum suum dabit in tem- 
pore suo : 

Ave, porta paradisi, 
Lignum vitae quod amisi 
Per te mihi jam dulcescit, 
Et salutis fructus crescit. 



11 Cotton MSS. Titus. A. xxi. The title is Mariale, sive 
Liber in quo plurima quae in scripturis de Deo, Patre et Filio 
dicuntur transformantur. metris resonantibus, ad venerationem 
beatae Virginis, 



108 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Apprehendite disciplinam, ne quando irascatur Do- 
minus, et pereas de via justa. 

Ave, morum disciplina, 
Via, vitee lux divina, 
Iram dei mitigasti, 
Quando Christum generasti. 

Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi, et exaudivit me 
de monte sancto suo. 

Ave, Virgo, cujus clamor 
Nostri fuit pius amor, 
Qui de monte exauditur, 
Verbum carni cum unitur. 



Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui, Domine, 
dedisti laetitiam in corde meo. 



Ave, cujus refulgentem 
Splendor patris fecit mentem, 
De splendore vultus tui 
Fac signetur servi tui. 

This hymn, which occupies the greatest part of the 
book, is followed by a Litany to the Virgin. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 109 

The other is from a manuscript in the Bodleian 
library 12 : 

Ave, pulcra pelle, pulpa, 
Fcecundata sine culpa, 

Sine viri semine : 
Ave, cujus pulcrimenti 
Totus fulgor firmamenti 

Vincitur vibramine. 

Ave, pulcra naso, malis, 
Pulcra dorso, pulcra palis, 

Dentiumque serie : 
Pulcra pulcram aliorum 
Formam vincis, et olorum 

Olorina facie, 

Ave, pulcra columellis, 
Et gingivis, et labellis, 

Puicro pulcra cilio : 
Ave, cujus calcem clare 
Nee centenni commendar^ 

Sciret Seraph studio. 

Ave, pulcra pulcris suris, 
Pulcra pulcri nomine cruris, 

Musculis et tibiis : 
Pulcra plantis, pulcra talis, 
Umbilico, coxis, aliis, 

Pernis, et arteriis. 

12 MSS. Bodl. Arch. C. 29. N°. 851 . In this volume there are 
many other rhyming verses — as Bridlington's Prophecies, 



110 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Ave, pulcra fauce, nare, 
Cujus nemo caraxare 

Potest formam graphicis; 
Pulcra nomine digitorum, 
Scapularum, lacertorum, 

Et interscapulis. 

I shall quote only one passage more : 

Ave, caste foecundata, 
Nulla carnis titillata 

Lasciva libidine. 
Ave, templum summi Regis, 
Et Pastoris novse legis 

Altare thuricseum : 
Ave, cujus faber poli 
Reservavit sibi soli 

Virginale hymeneum 13 . 

Geoffrey de Vinesauf, educated at Saint Frides- 
wide's priory, and in France and Wales, professed 
himself an enemy to Leonine verse, and wrote a 
long poem in hexameters, dedicated to pope Innocent 
the third, entitled De Nova Poetria, to recommend 
both by precept and example a new and more classi- 
cal style. Of his own reformed and reforming verse 
the following specimen from a poem written on the 

13 Observe the word caraxare, from the Greek Kapaoffw, a$w. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. Ill 

death of king Richard the first, on a Friday in the 
year 1199, may suffice 14 : 

O Veneris lacrimosa dies ! O sidus amarum ! 
Ilia dies tua nox fuit, et Venus ilia venenum, 
Ilia dedit vulnus 

This is ridiculed by Chaucer in the Nun's Priest's 
Tale, where Chanticleer is killed on a Friday ; 

O Gaulfride, dear master sovereign, 

That, when that worthy king Richard was slain 

With shot, complainedst his death so sore ! 

Why ne had I now thy science, and thy lore, 

The Friday for to chide, as did ye ? 

For on a Friday shortly slain was he 15 . 



The Thirteenth Century. 

Leonine verse was pressed into the service of 
science. Alexander de Villa Dei, a friar minor of 
Dole in France, and educated at Paris, in 1209 wrote 
a metrical grammar, entitled Doctrinale Puerorum, 
of which the rules were taken from Priscian, and 



14 Selden, judicium de decern scriptonbus Anglicanis, Opera. 
Ed. Wilkins,vol. ii. p. 1166. 

15 Ed. Speght, 1602. fol. 83, 



112 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

who may be considered as the precursor of Lilly 
and Busby. It was first printed at Venice in 1473, 
in a small quarto, with a commentary, under the 
title of Alexandri Grammatici Opus, interpretatum 
a Ludovico de Guaschis. This is the beginning : 

Scribere clericulis paro doctrinale novellis, 
Pluraque doctorum sociabo scripta meorum. 
Jamque legent pueri pro nugis Maximiani, 
Quae veteres sociis nolebant pandere caris 16 . 
Prsesens huic operi sit gratia pneumatis almi, 
Me juvet, et faciat complere quod utile fiat. 

Of his rules the following is a specimen ; of the 
fourth declension he says — 

Quarta dat us recto : dabit u, sed nisi neutro. 
U non mutabis donee plurale videbis. 
Us genitivus habet, sed tertius Ui tibi praebet. 
Urn quarto dabitur: quintus recto simulatur. 
U retinet sextus. Sed flecte domum sapienter. 
Tota domus quartse, mi 9 mo, rum, mos que secundae. 

It is uncertain when Alanus was born. Ke pre- 
sided over the ecclesiastical school at Paris, was 



16 That is, as it is explained in the commentary, Maximian's 
work was held to be so valuable, that they would not communi- 
cate it to their dearest friends. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 113 

styled Doctor Universalis, and became a lay-brother 
of the Cistertian order. 

He was the best poet of his age, and wrote many 
poems of great length, and which have been much 
admired. Amongst these, Anti-Claudianus, in nine 
books, is a work of great learning, and a perfect En- 
cyclopaedia. Planctus Naturae, in prose and verse, 
is an imitation of Boethius. He composed likewise 
Parables in verse, De Christi Incarnatione, and other 
works: but none in rhyme, except the following, 
which consists of one hundred and forty-eight lines : 

Contra Amorem Veneris, probans Virgines et non 
Mulieres ad Matrimonium esse ducendas. 

Vix nodosum valeo nodum denodare, 
Et indemonstrabile monstrum demonstrare, 
Unde volens Veneris vultum denodare, 
Quse naturas hominum vult denaturare. 

Hujus arte magica quivis protheatur, 
Jovialis deitas per hanc humanatur, 
Mars in pace vincitur, Bacchus debacchatur, 
Ipse Titan uritur, Triton inrlammatur. 

Dulce malum amor est, et dulcor amarus, 
Inimica caritas, inamicus cams, 
Ignara prudentia, sapiens ignarus, 
Prseavara largitas, largiens avarus. 

I 



114 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Poena delectabilis, tristis paradisus, 
Arridens tristities, et contristans risus, 
Visionis caecitas, caecitatis visus, 
Odium amabile, et amor invisus. 

Sitiens ebrietas, sitis ebriata, 
Saties famelica, fames satiata, 
Virtuosum vitium, virtus vitiata, 
Inquietum gaudium, requies ingrata. 

Then he proceeds to discuss the question : 

Quis nisi mentis inops, hostis rationi, 
Fletum confert gaudio, risum pa&aioni, 
Lutum gemmae conferens, noctuam pavoni, - 
Flori fcenum comparat, Thersitem Adoni ? 

Ut pruina gratior dies est aestiva, 
Floreque decrepito rosa primitiva, 
Sic matronae Venus est quasi positiva, 
Cum Venus virgunculae sit superlativa. 

Ergo non ulterius quaestio procedat, 
Cum se parti virginum ratio concedat, 
Ergo nupta virgini in amore cedat, 
Rt innupta quaelibet nuptam antecedat. 

About the year 1250 flourished our facetious coun- 
tryman Michael Blaunpayn, from his country some- 
times called Cornubiensis, who studied at Oxford, 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 115 

and wrote epistles, and many poems 18 . Henry de 
Avranches, poet laureate to Henry the third, having 
affronted the men of Cornwall in some of his poems, 
the insult was amply revenged in a Latin satire by 
Michael Blaunpayn, which was recited in the pre- 
sence of Hugh Abbot of Westminster, and other great 
ecclesiastics, of which this is a short extract : 

Est tibi gamba capri, — cms passeris, et latus apri, 
Os leporis, catuli — nasus, dens et gena muli, 
Frons vetulae, tauri — caput, et color undique Mauri. 
His argumentis — qurenam est argutia mentis ? 
Quod non a monstro — differs satis hie tibi monstro lf) . 

In another poem he says of England : 

Nobilis Anglia — pocula, prandia — donat et sera. 
Terra juvabilis — et sociabilis — agmine plena. 
Omnibus utilis — Anglia fertilis — est et amoena, 
Sed miserabilis — et lacrimabilis — absque caterva, 
Neustria debilis— et modo flebilis — est quia serva. 



Neustria, or Normandy, when it was taken by the 
French from king John 20 . 



18 Wood, Antiq. Oxon. 

19 MSS. Arch. Bodl. c. 29. Warton, vol. i. p. 51, note. 

20 Camden, p. 6. 

i2 



116 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Michael applied to Henry the third for a provision 
in these lines : 

Regni Rector — miles ut Hector — dux ut Achilles, 
Te quia sector — melle vector — mel mihi stilles 21 . 

The following severe verses were made when 
Edward the first and the Pope united in taxing the 
clergy : 

Ecclesiae navis — titubat, regni quia clavis 

Errat ; Rex, Papa — facti sunt unica capa : 

Hoc faciunt, Do, Des, — Pilatus hie, alter Herodes 22 . 



The Fourteenth Century, 

John Bridlington, studied at Oxford, was a canon 
regular of Saint Augustine at Bridlington, and after- 
wards prior, wrote three books of prophecies, foretell- 
ing events already past in the English history of 
which he was the contemporary. He was born in 
1319, the thirteenth year of Edward the second, and 
dying in 1379, the third year of Richard the second, 
was canonized 23 . 

21 Camden, p. 301. 22 Ibid. p. 303. 23 Warton, vol. i. p. 79. 

y 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 117 

From him prophecies became fashionable,, and many 
of them now remain in manuscript. 

Vaticinium cujusdam viri catholici, canonici de 
Bridlington, prcedicentis futura sibi ostcnsa, ita in- 
cipientis 2 *: 

PROCEMIUM. 

Febribus infectus — requies fuerat rnihi lectus : 
Vexatus mente — dormivi nocte repente : 
Noscere futura — facta fuit mihi cura : 
Scribere cum pennis — docuit me scriba perennis, 
Me masticare — jussit librumque vorare. 
Intus erat plene — scriptus, redolensque amoene. 
Jussit de bellis — me metrificare novellis. 
Qui sedet in stellis — dat cui vult carmina mellis. 
Si vere scribam — verum credas fore, scribam : 
Scripsero si vanum, — caput est quia non mihi sanum, 
Non mihi detractes, — sed falsa per omnia mactes. 
Nullus deliro — credat pro carmine miro. 

Capitulum Secundum. 

Hie dicit quod dominus Edwardus ( secundus ) de 
Karnarvon in omni hello erit victus, et quod ipse 

24 Bodl. MSS. Digby, 89. 186. where are other prophecies; 
there are other MSS. of this work in the Bodleian, and other 
places. 



118 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 

fecit decidi plures nobilis regni sui, et etiam cognatos 
suos, et alios qui loquebantur pro jure regni Anglice, 
sicut Comitem Lancastrian, et alios : 



Rex insensatus — est bellis undique stratus : 
Nobilis est natus — qui dicitur infatuatus : 
Nam perdet gentem — regni pro jure loquentem, 
Ac optimates — Nullos reddet sibi grates. 
Perdet cognatos — Pendere sinet veneratos. 
Rex pietatis carens — Christi non fit bene parens. 
Regnans prodetur — qui gentis non miseretur. 
Mors infecta malis — consumet tempora talis, 
Summis contritum — tandem faciet redimitum, 
Sole sagittante — frigido Borea remeante. 

Ex hirco taurum — gignet redimita per aurum. 
Ex auris aurum — ventis componitur aurum. 
Exiet et rediet firmatus nomine patris 
Ejus, et intereet genitor terebratus in atris. 
Arte suae matris — regnum rapiet sui patris. 
Funera post fratris — quseret regalia matris. 



Capitulum Tertium. 

Docet Mores Edwardi de Wyndesore (the third.) 

Taurus erit fortis — metuens nil tristia mortis, 
Sobrius et castus — Justus, sine crimine fastiis, . 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 119 

Ad bona non tardus, — audax veluti leopardus. 
Semper erit taurus — viridescens utpote laurus. 
Fertilis et plenus — nummorum semper egenus. 
Agmina vaccarum — defendet vi propriarum. 
Hie subjugabit — hostes, reges superabit. 
Vix mundi talis — tauri ductor liberalis. 
Rex erit et custos — et diliget undique justos. 
Temporibus tauri — scutum portabitur auri, 
Tunc erit argentum — per terras undique lentum — 

Many lines seem much corrupted and are difficult 
to understand — 

When Edward the third first quartered the arms 
of France with those of England, an epigram was 
made upon the occasion 25 : 

Rex sum regnorum — bina ratione duorum : 
Anglorum regno — sum Rex ego jure paterno : 

Matris jure quidem — Francorum nuncupor idem. 
Hinc est armorum — variatio facta meorum. 



The poet laureate of the same monarch, when he 
was besieging Philip de Valois in Cambray, who 
could not be induced to quit the city, made these 
verses, with which the king was so much pleased 
that he swore " by Saint George that they were 

25 Camden, p. 305. 



120 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

valiant verses," and commanded them to be affixed 
to an arrow, and shot into the city as a challenge 26 : 

Si valeas, venias, Valoys, — depelle timorem, 
Non lateas, pateas, maneas — ostende vigoreim 

To this I must add a quaint epigram made when 
Henry the third levied a subsidy, which the rich' 
would not, and the poor could not pay, and therefore 
it fell upon the middle orders. A back-gammon 
player will understand it : 

Deuce-ace non possunt — at size-cinque solvere nolunt, 
Est igitur notum — quater-trey solvere totum 27 . 

A pleasing kind of poetry was at length invented 
in stanzas of four lines, of which the three first were 
not prosodiacal, but the last was from some classical 
author. The following is the beginning of a poem 
upon the epicurism and simony of the prelates 28 : 

Missus sum in vineam circa horam nonam : 
Suam quisque nititur vendere personam, 
Et cum ita cursitent omnes ad coronam, 
Semper ego auditor tantum, nunquam ne reponam ? 

26 Camden. 2 ? Ibid. 

28 Varia doctorum piorumque virorum de corrupto ecclesiae 
statu poemata. Cum prasfatione Mattniae Flacii Illyrici. Basil 
per Ludovicum Lucium, 1517 : the greater part of the poems are 
in rhyme. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 121 

■ Quando cibus deficit animalibus brutis, 
Mugiendo postulant cibum, spem salutis, 
Sed est mihi resonans vocibus acutis 
Fistula disparibus septem compacta cicutis. 

Jam prorsus abolevit usus largiendi 
Praebendas, altaria video nunc vendi; 
Versa est in habitum cupido tenendi, 
Tempore crevit amor qui nunc est summus habendi. 

Vis Decanus fieri, Praesul, Patriarcha ? 

Auri multa tibi sit et argenti marcha 29 . 

Tantum habet fidei, teste manu parca, 

Quantum quisque sua nummorum servet in area. 

In quo mundi climate, sub quo coeli signo, 
Est Abbas, vel Pontifex, pectore benigno, 
Dignus Christi nuptiis, dignus vitae ligno ? 
Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno. 

Ut Judeeis odio carnes sunt suillae, 
Sic in ejs extinctse sunt virtutum scintillas. 
Hie vacat marsupio, nummo servit ille. 
Credite me vobis folium recitare Sybilltf. 

Omnes avaritia mentibus imbutis 
In nummo constituant suae spem salutis^ 
Nolunt dici prodigi, rebus dissolutis > 
Fallit enim vitium specie virtutis. 

28 Marcha, a mark in money. 



122 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

A Prselatis defiuunt vitiorum rivi, 
Et tamen pauperibus irascentur Divi ? 
Impletur versiculus illius lascivi, 
Quicquid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi. 

Vos ergo cum talia Praesules agatis, 
De futurae gaudio vitse desperatis : 
Illudque Lucanium mente pertractatis 
Tolle moras, semper nocuit differre paratis. 

Quanto plura possidet, quanto plus diteseit, 
Tanto magis locuples sitit et ardescit. 
Velut hydropicus, qui semper arescit. 
Crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecunia crescit. 

Senes avaritiae sunt imbuti felle, 
Odor lucri primus dulcior est melle. 
" Nolle pudicitiam nummos ante velle," 
Hoc dicunt omnes ante alpha et beta puella. 

In this style a poem was written by Walter Disse, 
a Carmelite friar of Bordeaux, in 1390, de Scis- 
mate: 



Heliconis rivulo modice conspersus, 
Vereor ne pondere sim verborum mersus, 
Sed quia labitur mundus uni versus, 
Incipe Mccnalios mecum mea tibia versus. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 123 

Rhythmis dum lascivio, versus dum propino, 
Rodet forsan aliquis dente me canino, 
Quia nee afflatus spiritu divino, 
Neque labra prolui fonte caballino. 

The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, etc. 

Rhyming poetry, particularly in the hymns of the 
church, continued in use till the revival of elegant 
learning, and the reformation. 

There is a sort of song, used upon the admission 
of students in Germany, said to have been written 
by Luther : 

Salvete candidi hospites, 
Conviviumque, sospites, 
Quod apparatu divite 
Hospes paravit sumite. 
Mos est cibum magnatibus 
Condire morionibus : 
Nos, dum jocamur crassius, 
Bonis studemus moribus, 
Lignum fricamus horridum, 
Crassum dolamus rusticum, 
Curvum quod est hoe flectiinus, 
Crassum quod est deponimus. 
Beatus iste sordidus, 
Altis spectandus cornibus, 
Ut sit novus Scholasticus, 
Provident de sumptibus. 



124 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Interea dum ludicro 
Tempus datis spectaculo, 
Frontem severam ponite, . 
Frontem serenam sumite 30 . 

A book entitled Viola by Wenceslaus Clemens 
a Lybeo Monte, contains several hymns and psalms 
translated into Leonine verse, for the use of protest- 
ants. It was printed in 1637, and is dedicated to 
William Juxon, bishop of London : 



PSALM THE SIXTH. 

Dum furor ardet diris 
Ignibus, et in iris 

iEstuat avidus, 
Ne, domine polorum, 
Me tot age dolorum 

Plaustra pati fidus — etc. 

Ad Jesum crucifixion suspirium autoris e morbo 
graviter decumbentis — In Horatian metre of the 
eleventh epode : 

Cruci meo suffixe faedo crimine, 
Ah ! ne perenni fulmine 
Ob rue me, Domine. 

30 Moreau Prolegoin. p. 41. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 125 

Neu me misellum torvus ore despice 
Vultu sed aequo respice, 
Languidulum refice. 

Et hoc in aestu, quo fere contabui, 
Servi, Redemptor, eernui 
Nunc miserere tui ! 

Audi vocatus tot subacti cladibus : 
Necisque vinctum funibus 
Solve tuis manibus. 



In the whole there are thirty-two stanzas. Another 
poem written at the beginning of the year 1637, is 
in Horatian iambics,, beginning, 

Sat lacrimarum ! Jam veni Jesu ! veni ! 

Gregi tuoque sub veni. 
Atroce quid nos, O misellos, sub cruce 

Relinquis absque te duce ? 

As sounder learning, and classical literature, were 
introduced into Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries, this kind of verse began to be considered, 
as barbarous, and gave way to the beautiful poetry of 
the Italian bards. To this change perhaps the col- 
loquy of Erasmus, a dialogue between Thalia and Bar- 
barism, might not a little contribute. 



126 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

The goddess of barbarism is introduced bestowing 
her praises upon the seminary of Zwol, in the follow- 
ing characteristic lines : 

Zwollenses tales, quod eorum Theutonicales, 
Nomen per partes ubicunque probantur et artes, 
Et quasi per mundum totum sunt nota rotundum. 
Zwollensique solo proferre Latinica solo 
Discunt clericuli nimium bene verba novelli. 

Thalia annihilates her tasteless and ignorant, but 
conceited rival, by this elegant and satirical reply : 

Tale sonant insulsa mihi tua carmina, vates, 
Quale sonat silvis vox irrudentis onagri : 
Quale boat torvus pecora inter agrestia taurus, 
Qualeque testiculis gallus genitalibus orbus 
Concinit. Haud vocem humanam, sed dico ferinam, 
Hanc celebres laudate viri, et doctissime Florum 3I 
Auctor ades ; gratos in serta nitentia flores 
Colligito, meritaeque coronam nectite divae. 
Urticae viridi graveolentem junge cicutam, 
Talia nam tali debentur praemia vati, 
Annue, Barbaries, tuque hanc sine cornua circum 
Inter candidulas laurum tibi nee tier aures. 

31 Florum auctor is Floresta, some of whose monkish verses 
we have given. — This dialogue was written when Erasmus was 
young, and he did not publish it in his Colloquies, because pro- 
bably he thought it too severe upon the neighbouring town of 
Zwol. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 127 

When the pure writers of the Augustan age thus 
first emerged from the dust and cobwebs of the libra* 
ries of Germany and Italy, they excited a degree of 
admiration approaching to idolatry. One extreme 
usually produces the contrary. Erasmus, who could 
censure the wretched and corrupt taste of the works 
which had occupied their place, found it equally ne- 
cessary, in his dialogue of Ciceronianus, to counter- 
balance the opposite fashion, which then prevailed, of 
a too pedantic and confined imitation of the classic 
writers. When the restoration of Grecian architec- 
ture produced an abhorrence of whatever was consi- 
dered as unclassical in building, the noble edifices in 
the Gothic style, better adapted perhaps for the pur- 
poses of religion than those by which they were dis- 
placed, were totally neglected. In the same manner 
the rhyming verses of the middle ages, though vener- 
able for their antiquity, and not without their pecu- 
liar merit and their Gothic beauties, were despised 
and forgotten. In two instances only have they 
since obtained notice ; in hymns, and in some modern 
ludicrous imitations. Most of these rhyming hymns 
have been consecrated in the magnificent services of 
the Romish church. In themselves simple, clear, pa- 
thetic, or sublime, their effect upon the pious hearers 
has been rendered irresistible by the charms of music, 
the elevated compositions of Leo, Pergolesi, and older 



128 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

masters. Here they still form some of the most 
affecting parts of a solemn ritual, so well calculated 
to excite the deepest feelings of devotion,, that we 
may exclaim with the poet Cowper- — O si sic omnia ! 
Amongst the innumerable number of them thus 
retained, we may select as specimens of different 
styles, not as the best, but as some of the most rhyth- 
mical, two truly Roman catholic hymns, one on the 
Sacrament, the other addressed to the Virgin Mary. 
To which may be added some others, not peculiar 
to that church, but accommodated to all pious chris- 
tians: an historical hymn on the resurrection, a 
prayer to the Holy Ghost, the celebrated hymn for 
the dead, to which due justice has been rendered by 
the elegant taste of Matthias, and is quoted, though 
imperfectly, in the Quarterly Review for July 1828, 
and the Stabat Mater, so well known for the exqui- 
site music which has been adapted to it : 

FOR THE DAY OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT. 

Pange, lingua, gloriosi 32 

Corporis mysterium, 
Sanguinisque pretiosi, 

Quern in mundi pretium, 
Fructus ventris generosi 

Rex effudit gentium. 

32 There is another hymn beginning with the first line. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 129 

Nobis datus, nobis natus 

Ex intacta Virgine, 
Et in mundo conversatus, 

Sparso verbi semine, 
Sui moras incolatus, 

Miro clausit ordine. 



In supremae nocte ccenae, 
Recumbens cum fratribus, 

Observata lege plene 
Cibis in legalibus, 

Cibum turbae duodenae 
Se dat in manibus. 



Verbum caro panem verum 
Verbo carnem efficit, 

Fitque sanguis Christi merum. 
Et si sensus deficit, 

Ad nrmandum cor sincerum, 
Sola fides sufficit. 



Tantum ergo Sacramentum 
Veneremur cernui, 

Et antiquum documentum 
Novo cedat ritui : 

Praestet fides supplementum 
Sensuum defectui. 



130 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Genitori, genitoque 

Laus et jubilatio, 
Salus, honor, virtus quoque 

Sit et benedictio : 
Procedenti ab utroque 

Compar sit laudatio 33 . Amen. 

TO THE VIRGIN. 

Veni, Virgo virginum, 
Veni, lumen cordium, 

Veni, vena veniae, 
Veni, salus hominum, 
Veni, splendor ordinum 

Coelestis militiae. 

Consolatrix inclyta, 
Veni, vide, visita 

Certantes in acie. 
Nos rege, nos incita, 
Nos fove, nos excita 

De lacu miserise. 

Veni, Jesse virgula, 
Veni, rosa primula, 

Rosa carens carie : 
Peccatorum vincula , 
Rumpe prece sedula 

Praesentis familiae. 

33 The hymn de Passione Christi by Claudianus Mamertus, 
begins, 

Pange lingua gloriosi — Proelium certaminis. 



HHYMING LATIN YERSE. J 31 

Plena Virgo gratia, 
Repie cordis intima 

Ccelesti temperie. 
O lux beatissima, 
Esto nobis lucida, 

Fulgens sole glorise. 

Qui nos jungat superis 
Dans nobis in dexteris 

Post spem frui specie : 
Tu beni'gna diceris, 
Miserere miseris, 

Virgo mater gratiae. Amen. 



HYMN FOR EASTER.. 

O filii et filiae, 

Rex ecelestis, Rex gloriae 

Morte surrexit hodie. Alleluia— 

Et mane prim& sabbati, 
Ad ostium monumenti 
Accesserunt discipuli. 

Et Maria Magdalene, 
Et Jacobi, et Salome, 
Venerunt corpus ungere. 

k2 



132 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 

In albis sedens angelus 
Praedixit mulieribus, 
In Galilsea est Dominus. 

Et Johannes apostolus 
Cucurrit Petro citius, 
Monumento venit prius. 

Discipulis astantibus, 
In medio stetit Christus 
Dicens : Pax vobis omnibus. 

Ut intellexit Didymus 
Quia surrexerat Jesus, 
Remansit fere dubius. 

Vide, Thomas, vide latus, 
Vide pedes, vide manus, 
Noli esse incredulus. 

Quando Thomas vidit Christum, 
Pedes, manus, latus suum, 
Dixit; Tu es Deus meus. 

Beati qui non viderunt, 
Et firmiter crediderunt, 
Vitam aeternam habebunt. 

In hoc festo sanctissimo, 
Sit laus et jubilatio, 
Benedicamus Domino- 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 133 

Ex quibus nos humillimas 

Devotas atque debitas 

Deo dicamus gratias. Alleluia. 



FOR PENTECOST. 

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, 
Et emitte coelitiis 

Lucis tuae radium : 
Veni, pater pauperum, 
Veni, dator munerum, 

Veni, lumen cordium. 



Consolator optime, 
Dulcis hospes animae, 

Dulce refrigerium, 
In labore requies 
In aestu temperies 

In fletu solatium. 



O lux beatissima, 
Reple cordis intima 

Tuorum fidelium. 
Sine tuo numine 
Nihil est in homine, 

Nihil est innoxium. 



134 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 

Lava quod est sordidum, 
Riga quod est aridum, 

Sana quod est saucium, 
Flecte quod est rigidum, 
Fove quod est frigidum, 

Rege quod est devium. 

Da tuis fidelibus 
In te confidentibus 

Sacrum septenarium, 
Da virtutis meritum, 
Da salutis exitum, 

Da perenne gaudium. Amen. 



HYMN FOR THE DEAD. 

Dies irse, dies ilia 
Solvet sseclum in faviM, 
Teste David cum Sibylla. 

Quantus tremor est futurus, 
Quando Judex est venturus, 
Cuncta stricte discussurus! 

Tuba mirum spargens sonum 
Per sepulchra regionum, 
Coget omnes ante thronum. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 135 

Mors stupebit, et natura, 
Cum resurget creatura,, 
Judicanti responsura. 

Liber scriptus proferetur, 
In quo totum continetur,. 
Unde mundus judicetur. 

Judex ergo cum sedebit, 
Quidquid latet apparebit, 
Nil inultum remanebit. 

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? 
Quern patronum rogaturus,. 
Cum vix Justus sit securus V 

Rex tremendae majestatis, 
Qui salvandos salvas gratis, 
Salva me, fons pietatis. 

Recordare, Jesu pie, 
Qubd sum causa tuae viae, 
Ne me perdas ilia die. 

Quaerens me sedisti lassus, 
Redemisti crucem passus, 
Tantus labor non sit cassus. 

Juste judex ultionis, 
Donum fac remissionis, 
Ante diem rationis. 



136 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OP 

Ingemisco tanquam reus, 
Culpa rubet vultus meus : 
Supplicanti parce, Deus. 

Qui Mariam absolvisti, 
Et latronem exaudisti, 
Mihi quoque spem dedisti. 

Preces meae non sunt dignae, 
Sed tu, bone, fac benigne, 
Ne perenni cremer igne. 

Inter oves locum praesta, 
Et ab haedis me sequestra, 
Statuens in parte dextra. 

Confutatis- maledictis, 
Flammis acribus addictis, 
Voca me cum benedictis. 

Oro supplex et acclinis, 
Cor contritum quasi cinis, 
Gere curam mei finis. 

Lacrymosa dies ilia 
Qu& resurget ex faviM 

Judicandus homo reus. 
Huic ergo parce Deus. 

Pie Jesu, Domine, Dona eis requiem. Amen. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 137 



COMPLAINT TO THE VIRGIN. 

Stabat mater dolorosa, 
Juxta crucem lacrymosa, 

Dum pendebat films : 
Cujus animam gementem, 
Contri stan tern, et dolentem, 

Pertransivit gladius. 

O quam tristis et afflicta 
Fuit ilia benedicta, 

Mater unigeniti : 
Quae moerebat, et dolebat, 
Et tremebat, cum videbat 

Nati poenas inclyti. 

Quis est homo qui non fleret 
Christi matrem si videret 

In tanto supplieio ? 
Quis posset non contristari 
Piam matrem contemplari 

Dolentem cum filio ? 

Pro peccatis suae gentis 
Vidit Jesum in tormentis, 

Et flagellis subditum : 
Vidit suum dulcem natum : 
Morientem, desolatum, 

Dum emisit spiritum. 



138 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

Eja, mater, fons amoris, 
Me sentire vim doloris 

Fac, ut teeum lugeam. 
Fac ut ardeat cor meum, 
In amando Christum Deum, 

Ut sibi eomplaceam. 



Sancta mater, istud agas, 
Crucifixi fige plagas 

Cordi meo valide : 
Tui nati vulnerati, 
Jam dignati pro me pati, 

PcEnas mecum divide. 



Fac me vere tecum flere, 
Crucifixo condolere, 

Donee ego vixero : 
Juxta crucem tecum stare, 
Te libenter sociare 

In planctu desidero. 



Virgo virginum praeclara r 
Mihi jam non sis amara 

Fac me tecum plangere : 
Fac ut portem Christi mortem, 
Passionis ejus sortem, 

Et plagas recolere. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 139 

Fac me plagis vulnerari, 
Cruce hac inebriari, 

Ob amorem filii : 
Inflammatus et accensus 
Per te, Virgo, sim defensus 

In die judicii. 

Fac me cruce custodiri, 
Morte Christi praemunire, 

Confoveri gratia : 
Quando corpus morietur, 
Fac ut animae donetur 

Paradisi gloria. Amen. 

As to the ludicrous style, amongst their vagaries the 
Macaronic poets never introduced rhyme, which 
would nevertheless have, undoubtedly, added to the 
humour of their fantastic poetry u . But some mo- 
dern writers have revived the recollection of this 
species of composition in some playful pieces, in 
manner resembling that of Walter de Mapes, rather 
than that of Saint Ambrose. I may refer the reader, 
though I shall not quote them, to the dissolute 
but witty imitations of the monkish verse in the 
works of Hall Stephenson, in the inscriptions for- 



34 See Martini Coccaii, Zanitonella, Phantasiae Macaronicas, 
and Moschea, Antonius Arena, Drummond's Polemo-Middinia, 
and the other Macaronic writers. 



140 ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF 

merly in the hermitage in Stow gardens, by the author 
of Leonidas, and in the humorous paraphrase of the 
Morgante Magiore, called the Monks and Giants. 

I have now, as I proposed, deduced the history of 
rhyming Latin poetry, from its earliest appearance 
to its final declension, and have given specimens of 
various rhyming poets, who flourished during a 
period of thirteen hundred years. I do not profess 
to have formed a complete catalogue of them : the 
curiosity of antiquaries may probably discover many 
more than I have quoted, amongst the manuscripts 
and scarce printed books of public libraries. Neither 
can I always vouch for the perfect accuracy of the 
dates which I have assigned to many of the poems, 
or to the age of their authors : it was not my inten- 
tion to enter into dull discussions upon these points. 
I have stated them in most cases upon what I thought 
the best authorities, and in others upon what ap- 
peared to be the most probable conjectures. 

As to the merits of the poems every reader will judge 
for himself. The severe classical critic will condemn 
them in toto; but they who trust to their own unpre- 
judiced feelings, if they do not find the chaster ex- 
cellences of Horace or Virgil, will discover other and 
peculiar beauties, an antique simplicity, an abund- 
ance of Gothic ornament, genuine wit and playful- 
ness of imagination in the lesser pieces, and often a 
high degree of sublimity in the more serious. 



RHYMING LATIN VERSE. 141 

It must be admitted, that from the corrupt state 
of the Latinity of the middle ages, from the depre- 
dations of time, and the blunders of transcribers and 
printers, many passages in these poems are obscure, 
ungrammatical, and difficult to construe. Of these 
a correcter, or, at least, a more readable text, might 
have been produced by the ingenuity of a Bentley ; 
but, in most cases, under the want of a variety of 
manuscripts or printed editions, to supply different 
readings, I have not had the presumption to disturb 
the sacred rust of antiquity by conjectural emenda- 
tions. The reader is, however, desired to correct 
some errata contained below, many of which are to 
be found in the originals ; but, being evidently errors, 
I have ventured to correct them. 

Page 28, 1. 5, for Ita read Ira. 

35, 1. 7, for dierem read dienim. 

39, last line but two, for viperem read vipereum. 

41, last line but six, for desini read desine. 

43, 1. 2, for Hie read Haec. 

45, 1. 8, for lingua gloriosa read lingua gloriosi. 

48, last line, for lubriae read lubricae. 

49, 1. 9, for His read Hie. 
51, 1. 19, for vento read venti. 

62, 1. 6, for promeserunt read promiserunt. 

68, 1. 14, for meritricem read meretricem. 

69, 1. 9, for cistunag read cisternal 
71, 1. 17, for suggesti read suggestus. 

— last line but six, for laquens read laqueans. 

THE END. 



WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 

To he had of Mr. Talboys. 

The Genealogical History of the Croke Family, 2 vols. 4to. 

Remarks on Mr. Schegel's Work upon the Visitation of 
Neutral Vessels under Convoy. — In this work are discussed 
most of the questions between Great Britain and the Neutral 
Nations, as to capture in war, 8vo. 

The Case of Horner against Liddiard, upon the question, 
What Consent is necessary to the Marriage of Illegitimate 
Minors'? — With an Introductory Essay on the laws relating to 
marriage and illegitimate children in general, 8vo. 
Also, 

Stewart's Reports of Cases determined in the Vice Admiralty 
Court at Halifax in Nova Scotia, from the commencement of 
the war in 1803 to 1813, in the time of Sir Alexander Croke, 
Judge of that Court, 8vo. 



f.EMy'1 



